Vital NHS workers are enjoying new homes which have replaced 1940s barracks-style digs at Oxford's Churchill Hospital.

Managers at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust believe the £8m development of 225 low-rent flats called Randolph Court, at the Old Road site in Headington, will help them recruit and retain vital staff.

The two blocks were built by A2 housing, a not-for-profit organisation which took ownership of all the ORH's accommodation at the Churchill, the nearby John Radcliffe Hospital and the Horton in Banbury two years ago.

Most of the flats have ensuite rooms and can be shared by up to four people, while a few have been designed for couples and families.

They are already being used by nurses, on-call doctors and other health professionals, like physiotherapists, lab technicians and radio- graphers.

At the official opening, trust estates director Ian Humphries said: "This project has replaced some 1940s-style barrack buildings which were built to accommodate 120 staff primarily linked with the American army and airforce.

"When A2 took over it was a huge relief for us to find that the Churchill was their first priority. Only two years ago we had nurses in awful buildings, sometimes with up to 16 sharing bathrooms and kitchens."

A2 developed the site as part of a £10m deal with the ORH to update and rebuild 871 nurses' homes, including Arthur Sanctuary House and Ivy Lane Flats at the JR and Nuffield House at the Horton, where conditions were described as "poor".

It will be responsible for the housing stock and its residents for 30 years.

At Randolph Court each tenant pays £388 rent a month, including all bills and council tax.

Mr Humphries said that the modern, cheap accommodation would help the ORH attract nurses to Oxfordshire, where the high-cost of living had often left hospitals struggling to hold on to workers.

Recruitment problems in recent years have often forced the trust to use high-cost agency staff to achieve targets like casualty waiting times.

Mr Humphries said: "The provision of first class accommodation is vital to us, because it allows us to retain the very best staff without whom the trust would struggle.

"We are convinced that this new accommodation will help us recruit and retain in the future."