TWO hospitals in Oxfordshire will close permanently under plans to shut down almost a fifth of the county's community beds.

The closures will take place within the next three years to save £1.5m, and will affect a total of five of the county's 11 community hospitals.

Options the public will be consulted on from mid-March will shut 66 or 46 of the 304 community hospitals beds. The two options are:

Close Burford and Watlington hospitals, and cut beds at Abingdon by 24, Witney by 21 and Wantage by six (66 beds lost). Bicester hospital will be expanded from 12 to 30 beds, including a day hospital. A new minor injuries unit will open at Witney.

Close Burford and Wallingford hospitals, and cuts beds at Abingdon by six, Witney by 13, and Wantage by six (46 beds lost). Same increase in beds for Bicester, and same injuries unit for Witney as Option 1 - plus a new day hospital at Didcot along with six extra beds.

The Oxfordshire Community Health Trust, which runs the hospitals, hopes most staff can be re-deployed to other hospitals or NHS trusts. Some redundancies have not been ruled out.

Cash made from selling off the sites of the closed hospitals will help pay for the extra services at Bicester and Witney. The plan follows a seven-month review of how to make the savings after cash-strapped Oxfordshire Health Authority said it would cut the trust's funding by £1.5m.

A list of 16 options has been cut to the two which managers believe are the least damaging to patient care, while making the savings.

Ruth Sharrock, trust communications manager, said: "Both options would still leave a hospital within eight miles of the towns losing their hospitals. But we expect there will be opposition to both plans because people are very loyal to their hospitals."

The health authority believes the county has too many community hospitals which are not always full - a luxury it can no longer afford.

Dates and venues for public meetings will be released shortly, along with a consultation document detailing the two options.

Penny Thewlis, chief officer of Oxfordshire Community Health Council, said: "This news will scare many patients who use community hospitals. We don't think they should have to save £1.5m as we don't want to see any cuts.

"The health authority is grossly underfunded and should be given more money by the Government."

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