FAMILY doctors have branded cutbacks to children's and maternity services at Banbury's Horton Hospital as unsafe and inhumane.

In a report, the doctors have questioned whether Oxford-based clinicians have a genuine commitment to children's health in the Banbury area, and have criticised the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust for being intransigent in negotiation and of countering safety concerns with solutions that were oversimplified and impractical.

The doctors say they have little confidence in the consultation process and the spirit in which it has been conducted.

The North Oxfordshire and South Northants GP Forum - the voice of doctors in the Horton's patient catchment area - made the claims in its response to plans by the Trust to end 24-hour children's in-patient and emergency services, reduce maternity and obstetrics cover, and close the special care baby unit at the Horton.

Under the proposals, children needing overnight care would be sent to Oxford, and children needing emergency out-of-hours treatment would also be sent direct to the John Radcliffe Hospital.

In a statement, the GPs say they judged the Trust's proposals on whether the changes would be as safe as existing services, but have concluded that they must oppose the cutbacks on grounds of safety, sustainability, and on the reduction to basic health care and choice for patients which will affect the most vulnerable.

At a series of public meetings, the ORH Trust has claimed its proposals would provide safer healthcare for Banbury area patients, but the GPs say 'these proposals are unsafe.' The GP's statement says: "Local services for children are the key issue around which many other services hinge. They have a significant impact on the viability of other hospital departments especially maternity and accident and emergency.

"It is evident that paediatric emergencies such as meningitis, septicaemia, respiratory distress, and serious poisoning may all incur dangerous delay in receiving appropriate care if the nearest paediatric department is an hour away.

"Serious, life-threatening illnesses do not confine themselves to the working day."

On maternity services, the GPs say that under the proposals, mothers who required unexpected medical care during birth would need rapid transfer to Oxford.

They say: "This would carry significant risk and would be inhumane."

On general health, the doctors say that without 24-hour paediatric care, the A&E department could not take paediatric emergencies, and the domino effect would result in the A&E department being downgraded to a minor injuries unit.

The doctors went on to say: "A general impression is that the proposed changes are a foregone conclusion. The Trust's justifications for this have shifted between financial pressures, staff recruitment issues, college accreditation, and changes to EU working hours. All these issues are real but none are insuperable if there was a will to maintain quality services close to our patients."

The GPs said: "We have found ourselves untrusting of firmly asserted facts presented to us which do not hold up under further scrutiny.

"We have little confidence in the process of consultation, and the spirit in which it has been conducted."

The doctors sum up by saying: "The ORH Trust proposals will result in services that are unsafe and unsustainable, and not in the best interests of patients.

"They will increase demands on an already overstretched ambulance service and John Radcliffe Hospital, and in human terms will be far-reaching and expensive.

"The proposals are overly influenced by a small group of medical specialists in Oxford who have plans for centralisation that ignore the expressed and documented needs of this community."

A spokesman for the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We have received the submission from the North Oxfordshire & South Northants GP Forum and are considering it as part of the wider response to the consultation.

"We have further meetings with them in which we hope to be able to discuss their concerns in detail.

"The proposals for the Horton are driven primarily by clinical considerations, patient safety, and staff recruitment and training, and we remain of the view that they are the best way to ensure that services at the Horton are safe and sustainable in the long term."