Horton General Hospital: Proposals to move services to Oxford

There have been protests over a downgrade of the Horton General Hospital's maternity services

Proposals to move services from a hospital that has already seen its maternity unit downgraded have been set out by Oxfordshire health bosses.

A consultation has been launched to tackle a predicted funding gap in the county's NHS of £200m by 2020-21.

Options include moving stroke services and some critical care patients from the Horton General Hospital to the John Radcliffe in Oxford.

But the Banbury hospital could also see investment in other areas.

The Horton has been redesignated as a midwife-led unit due to a shortage of doctors until March, and the consultation suggests making the change permanent.

It could also become a centre for diagnostics and outpatient appointments with the trust claiming it would mean patients can be seen and treated closer to home.

'Poor care quality'

Critics of the changes said 146 acute hospital beds have already been closed temporarily across Oxford and Banbury with another 48 earmarked for closure.

Eddie Duller, chairman of Healthwatch Oxfordshire, said: "Is this really consultation? If there's a big swell of public opinion against it, is it actually going to make any difference?

"They've already closed down beds in the John Radcliffe and they've closed down beds in the Horton, they've done that before the consultation starts and I think that's wrong."

The second phase of the consultation is expected to start in May and will look at accident and emergency, children's services and community hospitals.

Chair of Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group Dr Joe McManners said: "Some of our buildings and equipment are old, expensive to maintain safely and do not provide good quality care for patients.

"It is a struggle to recruit and keep the NHS staff we need to ensure our services are safe and high quality.

"We also know that the current budgets for NHS services will not cover the demand for them without changes over the next few years."