CHILDREN'S and A&E services at Horton General Hospital are no longer under threat as Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)'s board vote to scrap the second phase of a controverisal consultation into the county’s services.

The unanimous decision was made at a meeting in Banbury this morning to discuss a 'rethink' of changes, which last year led to the permanent downgrading of the maternity unit at the hospital from consultant-led to midwife-led as part of phase one of its Transformation Plan. 

That decision has since been brought back under review.

Louise Patten, CCG chief executive said at the meeting The Oxfordshire Transformation Update document provided reassurance that the next phase would no longer go ahead, as well as confirming Horton’s A&E department and paediatric services would remain.

She said consultation would in the future be 'place-based' and a new joint scrutiny committee would also be formed to consider how any changes would impact patients outside the county.

The document, which was unanimously approved by the board, was prompted by a government review of the first phase consultation.

It was condemned in a report published earlier this month by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) – the expert review body on NHS service change.

The IRP criticised the two-phase consultation saying changes in phase one would inevitably affect changes in phase two and had led to ‘confusion and suspicion’.

Ms Patten said the goal was to have the joint scrutiny committee up and running by the end of May, though upcoming local elections could cause delays.

Speaking after the vote, she added: "I am delighted that we have made this decision and that we can start to plan a new approach for engaging communities on the issues that affect them locally."