RESIDENTS will pay the price of a major health consultation being delayed, an MP has warned.

Wantage MP Ed Vaizey said postponing the Oxfordshire Healthcare Transformation project would hit his constituents harder than most.

That is because the future of the 12 bed in-patient service at Wantage Community Hospital, closed in the summer, will only be decided after the consultation.

Mr Vaizey said: "My concern focuses on the knock on effects of this delay to my constituents.

"This hold-up will prolong the closure of this facility at the hospital."

The county-wide public consultation on the future of health services locally was originally due to start in October but has now been pushed back to the end of December or beginning of January.

The reason for this deferral given by the Oxfordshire Transformation Board was to ensure proposals for change were tested rigorously.

Mr Vaizey said he was also worried that any further delays could force the consultation to run into the purdah period for the Oxfordshire County Council elections in May.

According to election rules, that would limit what political parties could say or announce about health services.

Mr Vaizey said: "There is only a very tight window for consultation to take place so the date must not slip again."