Increasing pressures at Oxfordshire's major hospitals have left staff facing longer hours and more abuse from patients and their relatives, a survey has revealed.

It found that almost three quarters of workers at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Radcliffe Infirmary, and the Horton, Banbury, do overtime due to the pressure and demands of their jobs.

The Healthcare Commission report also shows that 14 per cent of staff experience physical violence from visitors.

Unions are concerned about the results, which have increased in the last year and are higher than the national average.

But trust managers suggested staff worked longer hours because they enjoyed their jobs, while a high level of violent incidents was being identified because of vigorous recording techniques.

The survey randomly selected 836 of the 9,500 strong workforce to fill in questionnaires. Just over half -- 428 -- completed them.

It showed that more ORH employees worked longer hours than staff at any other UK hospital trust.

In 2004, 74 per cent of those surveyed said they had worked overtime, compared to the national average of 64 per cent.

The figure included 74 per cent of nursing staff and 91 per cent of managers, and was an 11 per cent increase on 2003, when a similar survey showed 63 per cent of employees at the four sites worked extra hours.

According to the 2004 survey, 14 per cent of ORH staff had experienced physical violence from patients or their relatives, compared to 13 per cent in 2003. The national average was 12 per cent.

Debbie Pearman, Royal College of Nursing convenor for the ORH, said: "The trust is certainly short of staff and is trying to cut back on agency staff because of the expense.

"There has been a lot of pressure to meet targets, like getting patients out of casualty within four hours. People are really under pressure and it's worrying that people are working over their hours.

"Physical violence shouldn't be tolerated, but it does happen. Because there's pressure on everyone, including patients and their relatives, sometimes the situation can blow.

"We try to get people to report incidents so we can find hot spots and deal with them."

Mark Ladbrooke, chairman of Unison's Oxfordshire health branch, said: "Reports show that there's not been any improvement on attacks on staff. A lot of trusts have zero tolerance and we think that this should be enforced. At the end of the day, people don't join the NHS to be punchbags."

Despite the increase in violence and working hours, managers said the survey highlighted how good the trust was at offering flexible hours. On a scale of five, the ORH scored 3.4, compared to the national average of 2.9, putting it in the top 20 per cent of trusts. The trust also scored 4.7 for its fair and effective incident reporting.

Human resources director Helen Munro said: "Clearly we need to improve our work-life balance, but I'm extremely pleased we offer good flexible working opportunities."