A BATTLE to prevent the downgrading of Horton General Hospital’s maternity unit has taken a new turn after experts rejected reopening the issue of a temorary downgrade.

An independent panel of experts assessing the move at the Banbury hospital has decided against a full review into the temporary downgrade, but offered some sympathetic words to campaigners.

Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group made the maternity unit at the Horton midwife-led last year as a result of problems recruiting staff – a move that prompted widespread objection from the public as those who have complications during pregnancy must now travel to Oxford.

The Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee initially accepted the reasoning as it was meant to be a temporary decision – but went on to refer the decision to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt following the failure of the recruitment plan.

Mr Hunt asked the Independent Reconfiguration Panel, which comprises experts on change within the NHS, to explore the downgrade.

But the IRP released a brief report in which its chairman Lord Ribeiro explained it did not see the value of a full review for the decision to temporarily downgrade the unit.

He said he understood the initial closure in the interest of patient safety, but said the decision did not need to be revisited again.

Hope remains, however, as a separate appeal is still going through the courts after the CCG made the plans permanent during a wider review of services.