CONCERNS have been raised over cuts to physiotherapy services.

In a health service shake-up, Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy Services (MPS) will no longer be provided by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.

From the beginning of next month Healthshare Ltd will be taking on the contract and part of this change will mean the 13 sites currently providing treatments will be slimmed down to nine.

One site not on the new list is Abingdon Community Hospital, and MP for Oxford West and Abingdon Layla Moran is worried about patients who will now have to travel further to access treatment.

She said: "Our worry with the community hospital has always been that beds and services will be reduced or stopped.

"It looks like those patients who are currently accessing the service from Abingdon will have to now go to Faringdon or Didcot.

"The trouble is a lot of people that need physio are either elderly or cannot drive, which makes it obviously harder for them to get somewhere.

"It is extremely important that patients are able to access healthcare easily and safely and I fear this change will make it more difficult for some patients."

In the new list, the closest treatments for Abingdon residents will be at the White Horse Practice in Faringdon or Woodlands Practice in Didcot.

Patients in Banbury will access MPS services from the Horton General Hospital, in Bicester it will be the Bicester Community Hospital and for those in Oxford, services will be provided at East Oxford Health Centre.

For those living in the south east of the county, services will be located in Townlands Hospital in Henley and Wallingford Community Hospital, while for West Oxfordshire patients the service will be in the Deer Park area and the Chipping Norton Medical Centre.

Spokeswoman for the CCG Sue Boyce added: "The new look physiotherapy services are designed to be offered closer to people's homes so treatment will be provided in different places across the county and this will include GP practices and community hospitals.

"It is expected most of the staff who have been providing the service so far will continue to do so and will transfer to be employed by Healthshare Ltd, so current patients will have continuity of care with familiar faces.

"Although Healthshare Ltd is a private organisation, it only works within the NHS and is solely funded through NHS contracts; it does not carry out any private work.

"Healthshare was awarded the contract after Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group carried out extensive engagement with the public and patients to re-design the service to make it more patient centred. Patient representatives also made up part of the evaluation panel to review the applications."

Additional sites for services could not be confirmed by the CCG as it said it needed to assess options once Healthshare had been up and running for a few months.