North Oxfordshire MP Victoria Prentis said she is ‘furious’ with the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (OCCG) board for approving the proposals set out in its Phase One Transformation Programme, while West Oxfordshire MP Robert Courts said the decision was rushed.
Keith Strangwood, chairman of campaign group Keep the Horton General, felt the board had ignored the public and made the wrong choice but added the fight is not over with hope the plans will be overruled by review. “It’s a huge disappointment as they pretty much none of the board apart from Louise Wallace spoke up for our area,” he said. “They seemed to make the decision before they came to the meeting and it’s a shame the MP couldn’t interject more during the meeting herself.
“But we’ve got the judicial review coming up in September and the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s (JHOSC) referral too so it’s not the end, we’re right in the middle of a fight. “If they think this is the end and start knocking down the maternity ward then the Secretary of State overturns it, then they’ll have to build a whole new building which would be brand new so that’s one way to look at it “The only way we can stop this is through people power and the people of Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and South Northamptonshire need to stand up and say ‘no’.”
Full story in the Banbury Guardian, 10 August 2017