THREE Oxfordshire hospitals have 28 days to come up with an action plan to deal with “worrying” staff shortages and patient waiting times, a watchdog has warned.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust (ORH), which runs the John Radcliffe and Churchill hospitals in Oxford, and Banbury’s Horton Hospital, failed to meet four out of 16 care standards.

Among its concerns were staff shortages, and inspectors said the hospitals did not have enough nurses, physiotherapists and pharmacists.

It also said patients, particularly those with cancer, were waiting too long for treatment and ordered the trust to improve staff training and how it monitored its services.

Last night, the trust said it had been expecting to fall short on some of the standards and was already making improvements.

It said it had already recruited more staff and had added 30 new operating sessions a week for the next 12 weeks to make sure it complied with the 18-week standard waiting time for surgery.

It was not clear last night how many posts remain unfilled.

The CQC was set up in 2009 and regulates all health and social care in England, including the NHS, private companies and voluntary organisations every two years.

It could not provide a comparison with other hospitals as it said not all of them had been inspected yet.

The commission has the power to enforce standards and can ultimately close down hospitals if they repeatedly fail to meet standards.

Roxy Boyce, regional director of CQC in the South East, said inspectors would make unplanned spot checks on the county’s hospitals over the next few months to ensure action was being taken.

She said: “Patients who we met were generally very positive about their experience at all three hospitals.

“The trust provides a vital service to a largely appreciative population.

“But the shortages of clinical staff on some wards are worrying.”

The CQC said staff in the surgical emergency unit particularly had been under pressure, and a significant number of patients were waiting more than 18 weeks after referral for treatment.

It also said the trust was not meeting all the waiting times for urgent cancer cases.

Ms Boyce said: “Staff on the surgical emergency unit in particular told us that staffing shortages were affecting their ability to attend to patients in the way they would like.

“Several staff commented that they felt they did not have enough time to talk to patients or enough time to give detailed explanations of care.

“Staffing pressures are also affecting some staff’s ability to attend training, fulfil specialist roles and support new starters. Some patients are also waiting too long for their treatment and this is of particular concern for some cancer patients who need to be seen urgently by a specialist after referral by their GP.”

She added: “It may be that when the trust has addressed the staffing issues that these other matters, such as poor attendance at training, will also fall into place.

“In the short term the trust is using agency or bank staff to care for patients. But that is only a temporary solution.”

The trust currently employs 10,000 people, including 8,200 full time staff. Just over half are clinical, including doctors, nurses and midwives.

Trust spokesman Heather Barnett said there were on average 60 more staff at the hospital since September last year, rising to 100 when there were more patients to treat. She said the hospital was no longer short staffed.