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Bicester and surrounding villages Thursday, March 29 - Wednesday, April 4, 2018
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oxfordshireguardian.co.uk
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Horton’s future healthy ■ A&E and paediatrics to stay ■ Maternity plan to be reviewed By George Welch THE future of key services at the Horton General Hospital could be secured today as health bosses meet to decide on the fate of the Banbury facility. Health provider Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group last week published a paper which advocates scrapping the second phase of a controversial consultation into the county’s health services. The Oxfordshire Transformation Update document, recommended for approval at the board meeting,
would also confi rm the hospital’s A&E department and paediatric services are no longer under threat. The number of midwife-led units across the county would also not be changed under the proposals. In light of “almost universal” opposition to phase one of the consultation, carried out over three months from January last year, health chiefs said they would approach phase two “in a very different manner”. Banbury MP Victoria Prentis said she was “thrilled” by the OCCG’s recommendations and urged the board to approve the proposals. “The OCCG is fi nally listening to all
of us in north Oxfordshire,” she said. “For too long now, the future of acute services at the Horton has been unclear. We now have the answers we have been looking for [and] the uncertainty can be put to rest.” The Conservative added: “The decision to abandon phase two is long overdue. Ensuring local residents feel that they have a genuine voice when it comes to the future of their health services, including community hospitals, is at the heart of any good consultation exercise.” Campaigners have been pushing to keep services at the hospital and reverse a downgrade in its
maternity unit agreed last year. Mrs Prentis believes that, acting on the advice of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel, the OCCG fi nally recognises that further work should include the views of mothers, families and staff, dependencies between services and the needs of those in the Horton’s catchment area. Campaign group Keep the Horton General also welcomed the recommendations but wanted more information about how the public would be consulted before members claimed victory. The group said in a statement: “KTHG welcomes the OCCG paper
as far as it goes but before we claim victory we want to see it accepted by the board. In particular how they intend to proceed in terms of obstetrics and how they intend to accommodate the views of the public.” The OCCG statement, made last Thursday, said the paper “seeks approval for the way forward that will allow a new approach to engaging people in localities on the issues that affect them locally”. It added: “If agreed, this would also mean no changes to A&E or paediatrics at the Horton or to the number of midwife led units across Oxfordshire.”
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