On behalf of North Oxfordshire residents, Victoria Prentis MP today submitted her final response to phase one of the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group's local healthcare consultation.
In a lengthy submission, Victoria spoke of her concerns about the consultation process, the content of the proposals, and the level of engagement since its launch in January.
Key issues included:
- The format and timing of Phase One of the consultation.
- Concerns about changes to maternity and obstetric services at the Horton General Hospital.
- Flawed statistical analysis and a lack of evidence to support the proposals.
- Travel times and transfer between hospitals, particularly from the Horton Hospital to the John Radcliffe in Oxford
- The impact on other local hospitals.
- Poor engagement with residents and a lack of reliable and consistent information from the CCG.
- Opposition to the proposals from the public, local healthcare providers, and all levels of government.
Calling the consultation “fatally flawed” in her concluding comments, Victoria also made clear that she does not believe the proposed service changes pass the four tests set by NHS England. In her final paragraph, she emphasised that “true consultation involves offering options on which the consultees can comment having seen the evidence they need to make informed choices. This is not the case here.”
Speaking after completing and sending her response, Victoria said:
“The past twelve weeks have been a confusing time for all of us in North Oxfordshire. This submission is a culmination of my own view of the proposals and, I hope, adequately sums up the thoughts of the hundreds of constituents who have contacted me about the plans. I am particularly grateful to all who helped with my submission, including those who took the time to respond to my various surveys. Given its failings, I still believe this consultation should never have started or should have been stopped some time ago. Unfortunately, that has not happened. I look forward to hearing how the Clinical Commissioning Group intends to proceed once it has had the opportunity to review all the submissions.”
You can read Victoria's submission in full, or a summary of, below.