THE 'dreadful' NHS body responsible for overseeing healthcare across the county needs to be shut down, a Tory MP has said.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail, Banbury MP Victoria Prentis said Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which is responsible for organising health services, was failing to listen to patients.

She has been embroiled in an increasingly bitter campaign over the cutting of maternity services at the Horton Hospital and said any attempts to find a solution were being ignored by the health body.

Ms Prentis said: "I think the CCG is a dreadful institution that needs to be closed.

"We understand that there are challenges and we do not want to be seen as the enemy of the CCG, but they fail to engage and listen to our suggestions."

Her comments come a year after maternity services at the Horton General Hospital in Banbury were 'temporarily downgraded' to a midwife-led unit (MLU) due to problems with recruitment, meaning women who experience difficulty during childbirth need to travel to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital.

But in August, as part of the first phase of its 'transformation plan', CCG board members decided to make the downgrade permanent, angering many and raising concerns about the long-term future of the Banbury Hospital.

The CCG is currently reviewing all services as part of the plan which aims to address a changing population to avoid a £134m budget black hole in 2020.

A number of hospital beds have been cut across Oxfordshire while stroke services are being centralised at the John Radcliffe. The second phase of this plan could see community hospitals and primary care put under closer scrutiny.

Ms Prentis added: "We are still fighting, my role in life is to save the Horton.

"This is a universal feeling, everybody in Banbury and the surrounding areas disagrees with the CCG's decision because we all know how long it really takes to get from Banbury to Oxford, which is too long for mothers and their children."

It is not the first time the CCG has been accused of failing to properly listen to patients.

Earlier this year, a government report was heavily critical of the CCG for the way it handled the closure of Deer Park Medical Centre in Witney, saying there was not enough engagement with patients.

The anger of Ms Prentice has been echoed by patients and council leaders.

Sophie Hammond, of Bodicote, gave birth to her daughter Clementine at the Horton a year before the downgrade.

There were difficulties during the childbirth which meant she required emergency surgery. She says there is insufficient cover in Oxford, calling the decision by the CCG a 'betrayal'.

The 31-year-old said: "What concerns me most is that there is not adequate provision for the JR to cope with the number of births it will receive as the only consultant-led unit in the county.

"That the closure of the Horton's obstetric unit could be considered supposedly on safety grounds, or as part of efficiency savings, is a complete betrayal of the health needs and the right to patient choice of a vast number of women."

Cherwell District Council is currently fighting a legal battle with the CCG in an attempt to get them to reverse the decision.

Leader Barry Wood said: “In the course of our campaign we have sought advice from independent medical experts to help us develop a cost- effective proposal to provide specialist obstetric support at the Horton and so avoid the need for many women in labour to be transferred to Oxford.

“We are disappointed that our alternative option was not agreed, not least since it need cost no more than the previous obstetric unit at the Horton.”

The authority was granted an official three-day hearing to challenge the CCG’s consultation over its ‘transformation plans’ and this will take place in December.

Chief Executive of the CCG David Smith said because of the legal challenge the temporary downgrade of the services will remain in place.

He added: “The CCG approved proposals for changes to some NHS services in the summer.

“The board decided to permanently close the obstetric unit at the Horton and this decision has been subject to a legal challenge.

“Whilst the legal challenge is underway the usual approach is to proceed with implementation steps, in so far as, these are not irreversible and will not cause the local NHS to incur significant additional costs if they have to reverse them later.”