COACH-LOADS of campaigners from Banbury and further afield took part in a national day of protest cuts to over NHS services in London.

Some 50 local people travelled to Downing Street today to hand over a 19,000-strong petition against the downgrade of maternity services at the Horton General Hospital, which came into effect last week. This was followed by a demonstration outside the House of Commons.

The group also joined thousands of others at a demonstration in Trafalgar Square against forthcoming sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) that will reshape the way NHS services are delivered across the UK to balance the needs of a growing population with rising costs.

Keith Strangwood, the chairman of Keep the Horton General, said on the Monday afternoon: "Banbury had a very strong presence in London today."

The last time such a large local group went to Downing Street was in 2004, when a petition with 35,000 signatures calling for the Banbury A&E to be preserved was delivered.

Mr Strangwood said: "The person that took the box from me was the same that took it from us in 2004.

"The demonstration went really well. All the groups from around the country got really loud together. They all had their own campaign songs and everybody joined in.

"STP is about delivering an NHS that the government says it can afford, rather than the one that we need."

Groups from Huddersfield, Chorley, Dewsbury, Grantham, Banbury, Lewisham, Wycombe, Empson and other areas took part in the march in central London.

Sustainability and transformation plans will involve service 'reconfiguration' of the NHS in 44 new zones marked out by NHS England.

Oxfordshire's slice of the plans is currently being drafted by Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group and will go out to consultation in January.
Dr Ken Williamson, the chairman of Oxfordshire Keep Our NHS Public, said: "We are right to be suspicious and to question whether these plans are less about improvements to patient services and more about continuing to severely defund the NHS, secreted within the Trojan horse of 'cost-efficiencies'."

David Smith, the chief executive of CCG, said: "Our challenge is to ensure the highest quality care for all patients within the finite resources available. The consultation was originally scheduled to begin in October, however, Oxfordshire’s Transformation Board agreed the formal consultation should begin later to ensure proposals for change are tested rigorously before options are finalised.

"Patients and the public continue to have their say as we have been gathering views through events, surveys and discussions with patient groups.

"What we have gathered so far has been considerable and these views have been used to progress the developing options. Further public engagement will continue through the autumn, to the launch of the consultation and will help inform the final proposals.

"It should be noted that the national planning guidance for the NHS (available on the NHS England website) brought forward the deadline for the December 23, 2016 for contracts to be agreed between commissioners and providers.

"We would not reflect any of the emerging options for new models of care being developed through the Transformation Programme in those contracts as this would prejudice the outcome of public consultation on service change.

"Where possible we will seek to use the flexibilities in our approach to contracting to support more integrated service delivery, however, this will not include such service changes that we are legally required to consult on.

"There are mechanisms in the NHS Standard Contract that allow us to vary the contract to reflect any decision made on service change post public consultation, if that were within the two year period of the contract."