THE FUTURE of Oxfordshire’s health services hangs in the balance, after a senior judge froze progress on controversial plans.

Campaigners and councils are waiting in limbo following a hearing at the High Court, in which they argued that Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) held unlawful consultation for its ‘transformation plan’.

Mr Justice Mostyn, who heard the case last week, has told the CCG it must not act on its plan until he decides if consultation was legal or not.

Cherwell District Council brought the judicial review against the CCG alongside several other authorities and Keep the Horton General.

Keith Strangwood, chair of the latter campaign group, said: “We must win this. It’s all down to the judge.

“There are about 1,000 pages of data and evidence for the judge to absorb. He can take as long as he wants - it could be a week, a fortnight, a month or two months.”

The transformation plan outlined major changes to healthcare in the county, in two phases - the first of which was approved by the CCG in September.

This included centralising acute stroke services, closing more beds and permanently downgrading maternity services at Banbury’s Horton General Hospital to a midwife-led unit.

Banbury resident Mr Strangwood branded the plan ‘unthinkable’.

Campaigners and the councils argue that public consultation on the changes was flawed and confusing, because it was split into two stages for phase one and two.

Mr Strangwood said he hoped Mr Justice Mostyn would side with campaigners and ‘see the importance of new life’, referring to the maternity unit.

Its downgrading means that pregnant women experiencing complications during childbirth have to travel to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford for help.

Mr Strangwood also raised concerns that the longer Mr Justice Mostyn waited to make his ruling, the more staff will quit the Horton due to unrest about its future.

He said it had been worth the fight to get to the High Court, paraphrasing a famous quote from former health minister Aneurin Bevan: “The NHS will only exist as long as people are willing to fight for it.”

A spokesperson for Oxfordshire CCG said: “The phase two [consultation] will not start until 2018. We will bear in mind Mr Justice Mostyn’s ruling and potential timing of his judgement.”

In September the Healthwatch Oxfordshire chairman warned that delaying phase one would also halt less controversial changes, such as those to stroke services.