NHS managers have supported staff at hospitals in Oxfordshire which have been condemned as some of the worst in the UK.

Members of Oxfordshire Health Authority (OHA) said the Government should look at ways to invest more money in the county's emergency care, as well as recruiting more nurses, as a way to cut down on cancelled operations and long casualty waiting times.

Their comments followed news that the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals (ORH), responsible for the John Radcliffe, Churchill and Radcliffe infirmary, and the Horton, Banbury, was graded in a new Department of Health rating system as one of the worst NHS trusts in the country.

It was given no stars out of a possible three, putting it at the bottom of a list of 25 teaching trusts -- all large hospitals which train newly-qualified doctors. At an OHA board meeting yesterday, members supported ORH managers, who have been told they have three months to turn the current problems round.

Dr Ian Neale, a GP and non-executive board member, said: "You could have seen the same problems a decade ago. We keep going round in the same cycle.

"It's interesting that it's hospitals in the south east in general that have these difficulties and we need investment in nurses and the care system in this area."

Michael Taylor, OHA chief executive, said: "I'm not allowed to talk about under-investment in care in Oxfordshire, so we will just have to give our support to the staff at the trust."