CAMPAIGNERS have raised concerns that the second phase of a planned overhaul of Oxfordshire’s health services may not be put out to the public for consultation.

Members of the group Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) were responding to a separate review by the health watchdog over the failures of the county’s health and social care services, but said the ‘silence’ from the CCG surrounding the ongoing Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) was worrying.

KONP secretary, Bill MacKeith, claimed that, as well as highlighting the health and social care failings, the report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) should have also demanded that health chiefs reveal the next steps of the much-maligned STP.

Last year, phase one of the highly contentious transformation plan saw CCG bosses approve plans to permanently downgrade maternity services at the Horton General Hospital in Banbury among a host of other measures including centralising acute stroke services, closing 36 acute beds, and reducing the level of critical care at the hospital.

The mass NHS overhaul, however, has since stalled after the phase one decision was referred to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Mr Mackeith this week revealed his concerns over the lack of information about the STP.

He said: “The CQC criticised the lack of involvement of local people saying ‘local people felt that they had limited influence on the design and delivery of services’.

“Flying in the face of this, the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group seems to have decided – judging from its silence on the matter – not to consult local people on phase two of its Transformation Plan.

“We demand there is such a consultation.”

A CCG spokeswoman said only that the organisation was currently focusing on responding to the CQC’s recommendations and not on the second phase of the STP.

Campaigners from a separate group, Keep the Horton General, along with Cherwell District Council and Oxfordshire’s Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee have led efforts to reverse phase one of the STP.

However the campaign was dealt a blow late last year when a judicial review into the phase one measures was dismissed in December.

The report by the CQC published last week criticised the lack of collaboration between Oxfordshire’s health and social care services, particularly when dealing with elderly patients.

Responding to the report, Oxfordshire CCG chief executive Louise Patten, said the organisation welcomed the report adding: “We will review the CQC recommendations carefully together and will develop an action plan that will mean patients and residents of Oxfordshire can have confidence that all parts of the health and care system are working together."