A STINGING response to the 'new' proposals which will decimate maternity, obstetric, and children's services at Banbury's Horton Hospital has come from Banbury Town Council.

The response questions Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust's motives during the recent 'rethink', undertaken after local doctors called the trust's original proposals unsafe and inhumane.

In its statement, Banbury council said: "The rethink process has done little to dispel the feeling that the trust had no intention of undertaking a genuine re-evaluation of their proposals. It seems to us that the aim was to pressure opponents into accepting that the changes were inevitable."

The council accused the trust of secrecy during the review, and of indulging in 'spin' on the outcome. The statement also said that working groups looking at the Horton did study other smaller hospitals with paediatric and maternity services, but not until late in the process and came to their conclusions before information from some of the units had been received.

The statement continued: "It is this lateness and lack of thoroughness that is the basis of our concerns. We feel the trust has simply been paying lip service to the need to find a way of keeping existing services at the Horton."

Meanwhile, a series of public demonstrations are being planned, and businesses and schools are being urged to join the 'Save the Horton' campaign. Campaign chairman and Cherwell district councillor George Parish wants company bosses and headteachers to write to local doctors and to the ORH Trust to demand that the Horton is not downgraded.

Neill Brodey, managing director of Norbar Tools, which employs 200 people in the town, has written to every GP in the Horton's catchment area, asking them to fight the trust's proposals.

In his letter, Mr Brodey said: "Occasionally we need to send an employee to accident and emergency. We provide our own transport and a qualified first aider accompanies the patient until A&E takes over.

"This is a short journey across town and reduces the call on the ambulance service. If Oxford became the nearest point for treatment of minor injuries we would have to use an ambulance.

"We also have many employees whose families use the wide-ranging facilities of the Horton, from birth. Having the family close at hand saves hours of commuting and allows for more frequent visits, which improves the morale of the patient and aids recovery."

Michael Goodwin, headteacher at Sibford School, has written on behalf of his pupils. He said: "Children's services at the Horton are under threat by the ORH Trust's draconian proposals.

"Pupils here are conscious that the proximity of the Horton has made a real difference to them when they have been unwell. They do not relish a much longer journey to Oxford, and I wholeheartedly support the campaign."

Mr Parish said: "We are organising various peaceful protests ahead of July 26, the day when the ORH Trust makes its crucial decision on the Horton's future. School children, accompanied by their parents, are being encouraged to make their voices heard at 8.30am, before Oxfordshire County Council's meeting on Thursday, July 12, at Cherwell District Council's offices in Bodicote."