Our hospital provides vital services to Banbury's growing population

We're about to lose those services.

This is what other people have to say about it

The Oxford Radcliffe Hospital Trust's Consultation Document
This is what it's all about, and there's a summary on page 20 of Part 2. You should read it because you need to comment on it to be part of the consultation exercise. But read between the lines - and remember the source.

Whatever they are saying about "improvements" to services - they are talking about improvements for Oxfordshire as a whole, not the Banbury area. With the exception of elder care, there is no way any of these proposals are improvements to people in North Oxfordshire, South Warks or South Northants. You WILL see a reduction in the way YOUR heath care is delivered.

There are also a number of errors in the report which we will list here soon, in particular claims that womens' and childrens' services are not clinically sustainable.

Part 2 - The Horton Hospital
Part 1 - Efficiency and Performance (covers the whole trust)

Letter from the Horton midwives

Some of the Horton midwives have bravely spoken out in protest at the cuts. Their letter, published in the Banbury Guardian on 8 June, really brings home the full extent of women who will be forced to go to the JR. There is also a cleverly worded letter from the Midwife Managers in the following week's paper which emphasises that of course the midwives will continue to provide the best care they possibly can - and that's the point. The midwives, not the consultants, will provide the care, and that means all the reductions outlined in the original letter by the midwives.

Letter from the Horton midwives to the Banbury Guardian, 8th June 2006

"WE WISH to make it known to the people of Banbury that the overwhelming majority of midwives working at the Horton Maternity Unit adamantly oppose the changes being proposed by the Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust regarding the provision of maternity services in the Banbury area.

We are dismayed at the lack of consultation with staff and service users that has taken place in the planning of these changes and believe that if the changes being put forward are fully implemented, the safety of mothers and their babies in the Banbury area will be compromised.

Limited details of the proposed changes, including the possible use of ‘alternative’ therapies and provision of single rooms, have recently been published. While these suggestions may seem appealing to many women the reality is that a midwife led unit would only provide care for a select group of low risk women. This would mean that a very large number of pregnant women in the Banbury area who were not considered low risk would be excluded from using the service and be left with no choice but to travel to the John Radcliffe Women’s Centre in Oxford for their maternity care.

The following are just a few of the reasons why a pregnant women would not be allowed to use the birth centre:

- A previous difficult delivery or pregnancy
- A previous caesarean section.
- A slow growing baby
- A suspected large baby
- Twin pregnancy
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure in pregnancy
- Low blood iron levels in pregnancy
- Premature labour (before 37 weeks)

In addition, women who did use the birth centre would not have access to the following procedures:

- No caesarean sections, emergency or planned
- No doctors available to carry out forceps or ventouse deliveries
- No paediatrics available to resuscitate and treat babies.
- No epidurals
- No blood transfusions
- No induction of labour
- No Special Care Baby Unit.

Women in labour requiring any of the procedures or services would have to endure an ambulance journey of more than 30 minutes to the John Radcliffe, with no guarantee that an ambulance would be immediately available to transfer them.

The John Radcliffe Women’s Centre is already operating at full capacity and no extra provision of facilities for the increased numbers of women who will need to be transferred from the Horton have yet been put into place.

Pregnant women in the Banbury area who wish to give birth in a midwife led unit already have the choice of using the excellent birth centre facility at Chipping Norton Hospital. We feel that an additional midwife led unit in Banbury is unnecessary and greatly limits the amount of choice for pregnant women in the area.

We need a safe, caring, appropriately funded obstetric unit in Banbury to provide local women with the level of choice and care they deserve.

We hope that the people of Banbury will support us and speak out against the proposed changes"

The midwives at the Horton Maternity Unit

A Banbury Cake reporter (8 June)
....makes a broad and incorrect claim that the women of North Oxfordshire "prefer" the midwife led service provided in Chipping Norton. With 1536 births in the Horton, versus 126 at Chipping Norton, the figures simply do not bear this out (source - Birthchoice UK). The reporter misses the point, in that the majority of women will no longer be able to exercise choice, as only the very lowest risk births, and no first time mothers at all, will be able to use the midwife led service at the Horton.

We hope that people who are supporting the cuts because of their stated preference for all natural births realise that for the majority of women in North Oxfordshire, the very choice they value so highly is going to be reduced; that far more is at risk here than a choice of maternity service; and that by basing one's opinion solely on a briefing prepared by the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust, they may not be getting the full picture.

The same reporter also claims that the campaigners against the cuts are all men, which is simply not true. Half our committee members are female, and women are standing up for our cause in the local papers every week. The speakers at our rally are simply the most influential and relevant speakers, irrespective of gender. (Health Minister Patricia Hewitt has been invited, but is not expected to attend)

Tory Leader David Cameron visits the Horton

David Cameron and Tony Baldry visited the Horton on 9th June to meet with staff and management and discuss the proposed cuts. Mr Cameron's spokesperson said "David sees the Horton as a very good example of how Government cuts are affecting people, and just aren't offering a good service"

*This article has been reproduced from the KeeptheHortonGeneral campaign website