AFFORDABLE housing for workers at one of the county’s hospital trusts is one of its biggest issues as it battles staff shortages, a chief nurse has warned.

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust operates the Warneford Hospital in Headington and all of Oxfordshire’s community hospitals, employing nearly 3,000 nurses.

But according to the trust, 11 out of the 34 wards controlled by the trust have fewerthan 75 per cent of the staff needed to meet expected staffing levels.

Although minimum staffing levels for safety were maintained by bringing in workers from other departments, in April one ward had as little as 33 per cent of expected staffing levels.

One of the key areas that has been affected by staffing issues is nursing, with almost half of the vacant jobs advertised by the trust being for nurses.

Director of nursing Ros Alstead said: “As well as there being a national shortage of nurses, one issue we have found is the cost of living in the county.

“We have done our best to put some nurses in trust-owned accommodation, but we also continue to talk about key worker housing with councils across Oxfordshire.”

The trust has also had issues retaining workers, with a 13.33 per cent turnover of staff in April of this year.

Royal College of Nursing senior officer Victoria Couling has said that the NHS and trusts should consider paying staff “subsidies” for living in such an unaffordable area – similar to London weighting.

She added: “It is well recorded that Oxfordshire is an incredibly expensive place to live, and nursing staff in this area are not offered cost of living subsidies, so it is not surprising those starting out in their careers are looking to work elsewhere.”

But according to county councillor Laura Price, giving a cash injection to nurses would only be a “sticking plaster” to a deep-rooted problem across Oxfordshire.

She said: “A subsidy, such as the London weighting, would not be a solution to the problem.

“The way the housing market moves in Oxford and Oxfordshire means living would soon become unaffordable again.

“I think that key worker housing is really important and I think that it seems to have dropped off the agenda.

“There has been a massive drive for developments across the county and now we’re struggling to get key worker housing into developments.

“Like health care workers and paramedics, nurses keep our frontline services open in the county and we need to provide them with a place to live.

“We need to get key worker housing back on the agenda.”