THURSDAY is crunch day for the Horton Hospital when NHS Oxfordshire will decide whether to back plans to keep children’s and maternity services running.

Proposals for consultants to run paediatrics and maternity services at the Banbury hospital are due to go before the health authority’s board.

If the proposals get the green light, the Better Healthcare Programme, which set up to save those services, will prepare more detailed plans.

These will include the cost of employing between ten and 12 consultants to run services 24/7, job specifications, and how the hospital will attract trainee doctors.

But the detailed plans will still need final approval before the Horton’s future is secured, and any decision is not expected until after a general election next year.

Among the initiatives being put in place to lure trainee doctors to the hospital is getting research and training accreditation at the Horton.

Earlier this month the Deanery, which controls doctors’ training, visited the hospital and is due to report soon.

At the moment the hospital is staffed by middle grade doctors and locums, which cannot be maintained long-term.

NHS Oxfordshire’s finances are under pressure after Matthew Tait, acting chief executive of NHS Oxfordshire, announced it could need to make savings of up to £80m a year from April 2011 because its budget might not be increased after the next financial year.

Alan Webb, director of service redesign at NHS Oxfordshire, said: “There has been significant progress made over the last 20 months and we have agreed a model parties have signed up to.

“Ambulatory care will be consultant delivered paediatrics and maternity — that means consultants on site 24/7 providing a service and delivering the service as opposed to middle grade staff “If consultants are running services it costs more.

“Now we have the challenge of making that model work. I don’t think anyone underestimates that, because the challenges are significant. We have agreed to work together to find a solution to make this work.”

Last week the Oxfordshire joint health overview and scrutiny committee was told there was no plan B if the proposals failed.

It was told the Horton could not carry on being staffed by short-term locums because it was too expensive and not sustainable in the medium term.

A timetable of how the project will proceed is expected to be revealed in January.

Concerns were also raised at the meeting over the potential closure of the children’s ward as national policy in looking after sick children changed.

But the scrutiny committee was told any changes would go to public consultation.

Several years ago Oxfordshire PCT, now NHS Oxfordshire, threatened to downgrade the Horton’s services, but a local campaign forced a U-turn. The PCT were told by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel to find a way to keep maternity and paediatrics at the Banbury hospital.