On Sunday, July 22, I attended a rally in Wantage protesting the fact that after two years, Wantage Community Hospital remains 'temporarily' closed, with no indication of when it will reopen.

Originally, the hospital was closed because of concerns of legionella in the pipeworks which would have been costly to repair and replace.

This resulted in the closure of the remaining in-patient beds.

Maternity and physiotherapy were maintained. Physiotherapy has since been discontinued at the hospital.

I appreciate the effort that I am told Oxford Health have put in – particularly in keeping their promise of maintaining the maternity ward – but as far as the rest of the hospital goes, more needs to be done.

The closure of the hospital has deprived the residents of Wantage, Grove and the surrounding villages of accessible, quality healthcare, meaning that the injured and sick often must travel to Wallingford, Didcot or Abingdon for suitable treatment.

The problems will only become more apparent as housing developments in the area reach completion, likely increasing the local population by another 10,000 people over the next five years.

We have been promised a number of consultations to discuss reopening the hospital but so far nothing has happened.

After months of frustration I arranged meetings of my own.

I am delighted to say that plans for the expansion of Wantage health centre are proceeding well and hopefully this will go some way to mitigating the lack of progress at the hospital.

I have arranged to speak with the chief executive of Oxfordshire CCG to discuss plans for the provision of healthcare in the constituency.

I hope that they will have an update for us soon.

I've also written to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to raise the issue of Wantage hospital and make clear the level of feeling the community have for it. I await his response.

Finally, I would like to thank the 750 people who attended the rally.

It was moving to see that even after two years of the hospital being closed, the issue is still important enough to the residents of Wantage that they would march in the scorching heat!

l continue to do all I can to secure the reopening of Wantage hospital and am committed to securing the best available healthcare for my constituents.