At Westminster, it is clearly going to be an interesting time, supporting a coalition Government. In the interest of our country this is a coalition that all of us as MPs are going to have to ensure works on the basis of mutual respect. In practice Westminster and the House of Commons is very often much more collaborative and consensual than television footage of parts of the Parliamentary week, such as Prime Minister’s Questions might suggest.

Those concerned about the future of services at the Horton General Hospital are in for several nail-biting months. It is just over two years since the then Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson, accepted the recommendations of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) that the NHS in Oxfordshire should look for a county-wide solution to retaining 24/7 Children’s Services at the Horton General Hospital and consultant-led Maternity services.

In the last Question of the last Oral Health Questions of this Parliament Tony Baldry asked the Secretary of State, Andy Burnham, to retain consultant-led children’s and maternity services at the Horton hospital and to ensure that it remains a general hospital.

Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con): Is the Secretary of State aware that one issue will unite every parliamentary candidate in the Banbury constituency at the forthcoming general election: the retention of consultant-led children’s and maternity services at the Horton hospital, and ensuring that it remains a general hospital?

Proposals aimed at securing the future of Banbury’s Horton Hospital will cost the health authority an extra £2m a year it has emerged. The move comes months after the Better Healthcare Programme, BHP, said consultant-led services were the only way paediatric and maternity services could be saved at the hospital.

I think it might be helpful to take stock of where we are with the Horton General Hospital and plans to maintain children’s, maternity, and A&E services at the Horton (HGH).
After approximately two years of an intensive series of meetings, involving everyone, including community representatives, the Banbury Better Healthcare Programme, towards the end of last year, recommended that there should be a consultant-delivered paediatric service at the HGH.
The reason why it needed to be consultant-delivered was reconfirmed at the recent Clinical Review meeting, in that the Royal College …

BANBURY MP and Horton Hospital campaigner Tony Baldry has called on the area to make one more effort in the fight to protect our services.
Mr Baldry, who has access to health chiefs at the highest levels, said it is vital people write to him to stress their determination that a full-scale downgrading of children’s, maternity and A & E services must not happen.
His move comes after Oxfordshire health bosses have suggested to him that the preferred plan to maintain paediatric cover at the Horton may be too expensive. Hospital campaign …

Health Secretary Andy Burnham heard how important Banbury’s Horton Hospital was to residents on a visit yesterday.
Campaigners fought to save the hospital from closure several years ago and have been campaigning since to secure services.
Mr Burnham said: “It was important for me to come and hear where things had reached, to get a sense from staff and the local community. I spoke to local people who said if the hospital wasn’t there it would be an incredible blight on their lives.
“Its future is a question of getting …

Future plans for the Horton Hospital could see beds on the children’s ward cut.
Oxfordshire PCT confirmed its plans for the next decade, which could see fewer children staying overnight at the Banbury hospital.
At the moment there are 14 beds available in the children’s ward.
But the PCT says that nationally the way patients are treated is changing. More and more people will be sent home to recover.
However, Horton campaigners have rejected the proposal, claiming parents want to see their sick children cared for in hospital by doctors …

Last December, in health Questions in the House of Commons, I invited Alan Johnson to come and visit the Horton General Hospital at some stage during this year so that when he considered the issues involved, he could visualise the balance that people locally were trying to strike as between accessibility and safety.

Alan Johnson responded to my question, saying that “What happened with the Horton Hospital was verification of the process and the Independent Reconfiguration Panel made those decisions on the basis of the clinical argument. I shall be glad to visit the hospital . . . “