Government-funded English lessons would be offered to staff as the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust has received complaints from patients that it is difficult or impossible to talk to many foreign staff, including nurses.

The courses have however been kept optional but a concerned patient group has stated that these courses should be compulsory for all of the non-English-speaking workforce.

The classes at a local college have been offered to all staff, from nurses to cleaners, at the John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals, in Oxford, and the Horton in Banbury.

Jacquie Pearce-Gervis, of the Oxfordshire-based Patient Voice, said for several years the group had been calling for the measure.

He said, "It is something patients have been asking about for a long time. Many patients told us that it seemed some staff could not read or write English or even understand it in some cases.”

Sources said that the course being offered would cover speaking and listening, vocabulary, punctuation and grammar skills, and reading and writing.