The sun was shining on the summer fete on the lawn outside the Women’s Centre at Oxford’s John Radcliffe hospital. But the mood had become markedly gloomy at the fundraiser for the Silver Star Unit, the JR’s nationally-acclaimed facility for seriously ill mothers and babies.

Parents of children whose lives had been saved by this Oxford unit all seemed bewildered as a disturbing story spread around what should have been a joyful gathering to celebrate yet another successful year.

Staff had apparently been informed the day before that beds at the unit were to go. Some accounts even suggested that the Silver Star Unit, which for more than 25 years has looked after the most vulnerable pregnant women, was to close altogether.

One Silver Star mother, Nuala Webb, said: “It was just awful. Junior staff appeared worried about losing their jobs. But no one could establish what was happening.”

Soon enough, in a rather confused way, something of the real story began to emerge, which only intensified the anxiety about what was happening to the specialist unit.

A statement released by the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust dismissed out of hand any suggestion that the Silver Star service’s days were numbered.

“This is an unfortunate and incorrect rumour which we are eager to quash,” said the statement. “Our fabulous Silver Star service is not closing, it is simply moving from level six to level five of the Maternity Unit.

“We have been trying by every means possible to reassure our patients that the Silver Star service is not changing in a way that will affect patients. We even set up a new Facebook account this week to counteract misinformation once we realised that the rumour was spreading fast through the Facebook network. Hopefully this is helping to reassure people.

“Our intention is to move the Silver Star service back to level six in the autumn.”

The plan was said to be nothing to do with the £44m savings package that will see 370 posts going over the next year, but is down to a fall in the number of babies born in the summer months.

The trust continued: “Our predicted birth rate for the coming months is lower than usual for this time of year, which is generally low anyway. So we are using some spare space and bringing together two of our maternity wards. We have done this often in the past to make best use of space and enable us to work in the most efficient way possible.

“We are extremely proud of our Silver Star service and the expertise of our staff and know how much it means to people. Anyone who needs the Silver Star service will continue to receive it. We are not cutting midwife numbers and are currently recruiting. The Silver Star move would happen whether or not we had a savings plan — and that it will move back again in the autumn.”

But then many rumours have been sweeping through Oxford’s John Radcliffe of late, since the full extent of the trust’s financial problems became known.

Job losses, ward closures, scrapped research programmes, cutbacks in operating theatre capacity and slashed budgets across all departments: nothing, it seems, is going to escape untouched.

By last week, stories had even begun circulating that the trust’s chief executive, Trevor Campbell Davis, had tendered his resignation after refusing to agree to redundancies. The trust has denied the reports.

Oxford West and Abingdon MP Dr Evan Harris was not alone in believing a new era of cost cutting appeared to have begun in earnest. “I am very troubled by the news of the large deficit at the hospital and the extensive cuts,” he said. “It is a bitter blow to staff and patients that we have ended up in the same position as we were in the dark days of the last Tory Government.”

It comes as a major shock after the years of massive investment in the NHS.

The trust may have an overall budget in excess of £600m, but no one is pretending that savings of £44m can be made without impacting on patient waiting lists and jobs. The only question is how painful it is going to be.

The parents who have worked hard to raise money to buy equipment for the Silver Star unit are already bracing themselves for a devastating impact on the care offered at the John Radcliffe for sick mothers and their babies. For the trust’s clarification has done little to allay their fears.

Mrs Webb, who because her first baby died was to spend 13 weeks in the unit with her second baby, warned that the reorganisation would lead to the loss of 25 badly-needed beds, which will put the lives of both mothers and babies at risk.

Mrs Webb, a former treasurer and board member of the Silver Star charity, said: “There are presently 25 beds on level six all available for high-risk mothers and babies, who receive the high level of care that they desperately need. For over 20 years about 20 of these beds have been mainly occupied by Silver Star patients. The remaining five were either Silver Star or ordinary maternity according to demand.

“Under this plan we are told that only 12 beds will be allocated to the Silver Star Unit on level five. So Silver Star is effectively losing 13 high-care beds.

“But it also means that the ordinary maternity unit is having to give up 12 beds. That represents a cut of a quarter of the total number of maternity beds in the JR — a cut which will affect all expectant mothers.

“The Silver Star unit is unique. It offers specialist care to women at risk to many life-threatening conditions and diseases which can be fatal to them and their babies such as pre-eclampsia, heart disease, diabetes, lupus and placenta-praevia.

“Having monitoring beds is key to the survival of mothers and babies with these kinds of conditions, and why the reduction in beds is incredibly serious.

“Quite simply, the loss of these beds is almost certainly going to cost the lives of babies and put the mothers’ health in danger.”

“We cannot find out when the normal number of beds will be restored. The trust is now saying the autumn, but we understand a statement was made to staff that the ward on level six is to close indefinitely.”

Members of the charity are also challenging the suggestion that the merger is justified by a drop in births in the summer months.

Mrs Webb said: “This is inaccurate. Births in summer months are generally higher than in other times in the year.

“In July 2008, births were 13.6 per cent above the monthly average and in August 2008 they were 7.7 per cent higher. There is no reason to expect this long standing pattern to suddenly change.”

Mrs Webb, who lives in Hampshire, said supporters of the charity were also concerned about the loss of staff.

“Everybody knows that they will not be able to maintain the same level of staff with 25 fewer beds. But nobody seems to know which jobs will go.”

But many employees across the trust are wondering which jobs will go, despite the reassurances from finance director Chris Hurst that the trust wants to avoid compulsory redundancies. The high turnover of staff, particularly nurses, will mean, however, that the policy of not filling vacant positions will be quickly felt.

Mark Ladbrooke, the county health representative of the trade union Unison, said “We’ve heard that discussions are taking place about cutting operating theatre capacity at the John Radcliffe. This will ultimately translate into longer waiting lists. It is worrying that this is happening when the NHS is supposed to be fully funded.

“Natural wastage is a cheap way of handling redundancy. But it is difficult to get the skill ratio right.”

Just how how the trust has got to this point is put down by Mr Hurst to numerous factors.

Top of the list is the big increase in the number of patients arriving at hospitals that Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust — the body that provides GP services in the county — has not budgeted for.

The success in bringing down waiting lists, it seems, has only encouraged GPs to refer more patients to hospitals, even though the PCT does not have the money to pay for them.

Mr Hurst said: “Last year we were doing six per cent more work. The PCT had not set aside budget to cover that eventuality. We met with the PCT and agreed to share the financial pressure between us. It is not a satisfactory position for either organisation.”

Similarly, two other local health success stories — the opening of the new £109m cancer centre at the Churchill and the new children’s hospital — are adding to the trust’s financial woes.

While these centres will eventually bring the ORH money as patients are referred from outside of the area, at present servicing the private finance initiative loans is costing the trust tens of millions of pounds. The trust is shortly to increase its short-term financial burden by opening a new cardiac unit on the John Radcliffe site.

The staff have all, of course, been through cost-cutting exercises before in recent years. But this time, to the people who work in Oxfordshire’s hospitals, it is looking very different.

For as the Unison leader observed: “If these really have been the good times, God help us when the bad times come.”