Health service watchdogs are disappointed that a new on-the-spot patient advice and complaints scheme will only be available at one of four major hospitals in Oxfordshire.

Cash shortages have meant the new Patient Advisory and Liaison Service (Pals) will only operate at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, in Headington.

It will not be available at the city's Churchill Hospital or Radcliffe Infirmary, or The Horton Hospital, Banbury.

Pals will be the first point of call for anyone wanting information or help on issues ranging from car parking problems to how the hospital system works. It will also help patients with complaints. Its staff will have direct access to managers.

According to Government ministers, staff should be positioned near hospital receptions so patients, their relatives and carers can find them easily.

But members of Oxfordshire Community Health Council accused the Government of under-funding the scheme, despite demanding it be in place by April this year.

CHC chief officer Linda Watson said: "It's very disappointing that the Government has only given initial priming funds.

"In truth, the funding on local budgets is under such pressure that it's difficult to see where additional funding will come from.

"The other issue is that the level of funding is so watered down that it's difficult to see how Pals is going to provide a function at all.

"It's meant to be on hand for patients, but I don't see how they can implement an out-of-hours service for evenings and weekends."

Managers at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, responsible for the four hospitals, were only given £35,000 to fund the information scheme.

They used the money to employ a Pals manager at the JR and are bidding for further cash to open similar front-of-house advice and complaints offices at the other three sites.

Chief nurse Julie Hartley-Jones said the trust was committed to improving patient services.

She said: "Initially Pals will be set up on the JR site -- our busiest site -- as a pilot. We can iron out any teething problems before we extend the service to our other hospital sites.

"We're looking at opportunities to secure further funding to enable us to extend the service to the trust's other hospital sites as soon as possible."