Thames Valley Strategic Health Authority

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The summary articles in the table below related to the strategic health authority area are copied from the following pages, indicated in the table by key numbers.

  1. Charges
  2. Construction projects
  3. Resource shortfall Sources
  4. Treatment approval or not
  5. Withdrawal of Local Facilities - Sources
    Other
1 2 3 4 5

Summary articles
          Health managers are blamed for a catalogue of serious failings in the quality of care at three NHS hospitals criticised in official reports published today. An investigation into problems at the Oxford Heart centre, one of Britain's leading coronary units, discovered poor standards of clinical care and under-supervision of inexperienced doctors. North Lakeland NHS trust in Cumbria is criticised by health service standards watchdog, the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI), for degrading and cruel practices, including the strapping of mentally-ill patients to their commodes. Officials at Carmarthenshire NHS trust in Wales came under fire for failing to tighten procedures quickly enough in the wake of a blunder in which the wrong kidney was removed from a seriously ill patient. Guardian 15 November 2000.
          It is the relatively less shocking findings of the Oxford Heart Centre report which go to the heart of why the NHS is commonly perceived to be uncaring, unresponsive and incapable of raising standards of care. That report detailed a culture where poor care went largely unchallenged, and if it was, it was ignored or pushed under the carpet. It depicts an environment where staff felt intimidated into not raising the alarm over bad practice. These failures reflect a deep structural fault in the collective NHS psyche, an endemic fear of "rocking the boat", of questioning powerful individuals, particularly doctors, out of fear of retribution. This encourages in turn a pervasive, and perverse, culture of secrecy. Guardian 15 November 2000
          The trio of reports documenting serious failings in the health service yesterday is not entirely bad news. It signals more openness in what has too long been a stealth service. Each report is alarming reading: a Carlisle hospital for elderly mentally-ill patients with "a shocking culture of cruelty"; a Welsh hospital where a man died after his one healthy kidney was removed; a heart unit in one of Britain's most famous hospitals, Oxford's John Radcliffe, "on its knees and riven by internal conflict". Even the BMA did not try to gloss over their seriousness. "Today's reports paint a picture of an NHS in trouble and under pressure," it said. "It could leave the public seriously concerned about the ability of the health service to deliver quality patient care, to learn from mistakes and to act swiftly when problems and concerns have been identified." Perverse though it may seem, yesterday's reports are an advance. Four years ago, five student nurses blew the whistle on Carlisle's unacceptable procedures including tying patients to commodes. There was an inquiry, but nothing happened. The students' complaints were "lost". Nothing emerged publicly. All that has changed. Even before yesterday's report, the trust chairman had been dismissed, the chief executive suspended pending disciplinary hearings, senior managers warned. Similarly, Oxford's warring heart surgeons only came to light because a senior clinical nurse complained. She suffered severe harassment and an unacceptable two-year wait, but she finally succeeded. What does emerge is that whistleblowers still need more protection; that hospital authorities need to move more quickly (10 months on in Wales the action plan is still not in place); and less obviously, that care needs to be taken in deploying the new health watchdog, the commission for health improvement. Using it in Wales made sense. It looked at wider issues than a single death. It might have made sense to use it in Oxford too, but that did not happen. But the CHI should not have been sent to Carlisle, where there had already been an external review. This was a diversion to deflect any political heat from ministers. The CHI is not a hit squad. It is a crucial monitoring unit, with a remit to visit every hospital and GP practice within the next four years. To raise standards, it needs their trust. Set up a separate hit squad if necessary, but the CHI's prime purpose must be protected. Guardian Leader 16 November 2000.
    3     'There are simply not enough NHS beds and nurses'.  At John Radcliffe hospital's casualty department in Oxford, staff members Dawn Chambers, Richard Pullinger and John Taylor protest at A&E being blamed for long trolley waits.  Guardian Thursday June 27, 2002
          Alison Richards' newborn son died of an infection that could have been prevented by a £10 course of antibiotics. Now, her local MP is calling for prenatal screening. Sarah Hall reports. Tuesday May 27, 2003 The Guardian [Oxford]
    3     Mental health services in Berkshire are to suffer swingeing cuts on a scale not seen for a decade or more. Entire services face the axe over coming weeks as the NHS trust involved struggles to comply with an order to save £7m - about 8% of its budget. David Brindle Wednesday June 25, 2003 The Guardian
          Where the treatment centres will be. The health secretary, John Reid, today announced details of the government's controversial programme of privately run fast-track diagnostic and treatment centres, and a number of new mobile ophthalmology units. This guide explains where they will be. Friday September 12, 2003 [South-west peninsula (Mercury Health Ltd), Lincolnshire (Mercury Health Ltd), Horton hospital, north Oxford (Mercury Health Ltd), North-east Yorks (Mercury Health Ltd), Southampton (Mercury Health Ltd), Northumberland (Mercury Health Ltd), East Berkshire (Slough, Bracknell, Maidenhead and Windsor/Ascot) (Mercury Health Ltd), Didcot, Oxfordshire (Mercury Health Ltd), Ashford, Surrey (Mercury Health Ltd), Maidstone (Care UK Afrox), Barlborough Links, Nottinghamshire (Care UK Afrox), Derriford, Plymouth (Care UK Afrox), Chase Farm, Barnet, London (Anglo Canadian), King George hospital, Redbridge (Anglo Canadian), Royal National throat nose and ear hospital, Kings Cross, London (Anglo Canadian), Bradford (Nations Healthcare), Burton (Nations Healthcare), Daventry (Birkdale Clinic), Trafford, Greater Manchester (Netcare UK), Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore (New York Presbyterian), Shepton Mallet, Somerset (New York Presbyterian).
Two mobile units will offer ophthalmology services in the following areas: Cheshire and Merseyside (Netcare UK), Cumbria and Lancashire (Netcare UK), Horton, Oxfordshire (Netcare UK), Wycombe, Bucks (Netcare UK), North Tyneside (Netcare UK), South-west Oxfordshire (Netcare UK), North-west peninsula (Netcare UK), Dorset/Somerset (Netcare UK), Kent/Medway (Netcare UK), Hants and Isle of Wight (Netcare UK), Surrey and Sussex (Netcare UK), Thames Valley (Netcare UK)]
          Consultants protest as top eye hospital told to transfer patients to private sector treatment centre. Michael White, political editor Friday September 5, 2003 The Guardian [Oxford]
          An NHS trust yesterday delivered a slap in the face to John Reid, the health secretary, when it threw out his plan to use foreign healthcare corporations to operate on patients from the NHS waiting list. John Carvel, social affairs editor Friday November 28, 2003 The Guardian
          The Department of Health used bully-boy tactics to force local NHS trusts to sign contracts with foreign healthcare corporations for treatment centres they did not need, according to the chairman of a primary care trust (PCT) who lost his job for resisting the scheme. John Carvel, social affairs editor Tuesday June 1, 2004 The Guardian
  2       Banks and property developers made windfall profits of £73m by refinancing one of the Labour government's first privately financed hospitals, the 989-bed Norfolk and Norwich hospital, the National Audit Office reveals in a report published today. The windfall is the third to be disclosed by parliament's financial watchdog after complaints from MPs and the public. The other two are Fazakerley prison in Liverpool and the Dartford and Gravesham hospital. The report says that funding for five other privately financed hospitals - South Buckinghamshire, Calderdale, North Durham, Bromley and South Manchester - could also yield windfall profits for developers.  David Hencke, Westminster correspondent Friday June 10, 2005 The Guardian
          Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, called on the health inspectorate yesterday to mount an independent inquiry into the spread of a virulent infection that has claimed 12 lives at Stoke Mandeville hospital in Buckinghamshire. The bacterium, Clostridium difficile, has infected 300 patients at the hospital over the past 18 months. Alarm bells rang when it developed a more lethal strain, producing toxins causing severe diarrhoea that can be fatal for the very elderly or frail. John Carvel, social affairs editor Wednesday June 15, 2005 The Guardian
          A national inquiry into the new strain of the hospital superbug Clostridium difficile, which has contributed to 25 known deaths, is being launched by the Healthcare Commission, the agency confirmed today. The commission has decided to extend the remit of its original inquiry into the superbug announced last week, which was focused on Stoke Mandeville hospital in Buckinghamshire where more than 300 patients have been infected, resulting in 12 patient deaths since 2003. The decision follows the announcement yesterday that 265 patients at another hospital, the Royal Devon and Exeter in Devon, have been infected with Clostridium difficile, which was a contributing factor in 13 patient deaths. Debbie Andalo and David Batty Thursday June 23, 2005
          Fifteen hospitals have been hit by outbreaks of the new strain of the hospital superbug Clostridium difficile which has so far contributed to 25 deaths, ministers have admitted. So far there have been 75 cases confirmed by scientists at the specialist laboratory in Cardiff - the only one in the UK equipped to analysis the new strain - health minister Jane Kennedy said yesterday. The statistics reveal the outbreak of the new strain, which last week was confirmed at a second hospital in the UK, is much wider than originally believed. Hospitals where the strain has appeared are in: Preston, Birmingham, Winchester, Bristol, Romford, Southampton, Truro, Carshalton, High Wycombe, South Tyneside, Newcastle, South Tees, Sunderland, Stoke Mandeville and Exeter. Debbie Andalo Thursday June 30, 2005British vaccine firm Acambis is starting trials of a jab that should prevent infections from a new strain of superbug that has spread to 15 hospitals in the UK and killed at least a dozen people. The company has begun phase one trials of a vaccine against Clostridium difficile, a bug that has caused 12 deaths at Stoke Mandeville hospital in Oxfordshire in the past 18 months. Heather Tomlinson Wednesday July 27, 2005 The Guardian
          British vaccine firm Acambis is starting trials of a jab that should prevent infections from a new strain of superbug that has spread to 15 hospitals in the UK and killed at least a dozen people. The company has begun phase one trials of a vaccine against Clostridium difficile, a bug that has caused 12 deaths at Stoke Mandeville hospital in Oxfordshire [Buckinghamshire] in the past 18 months. Heather Tomlinson Wednesday July 27, 2005 The Guardian
          A heart surgery unit was under investigation last night over the death rates of patients, three months after the government failed to meet its commitment to put all surgeons' results on a publicly accessible website. The Healthcare Commission said it was concerned about apparently high adult death rates at the heart unit in the John Radcliffe hospital, part of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust. Sarah Boseley and John Carvel Friday December 9, 2005 The Guardian
    3 4   An NHS trust is scrapping the routine procedure that cured Tony Blair of a heart murmur, because of its financial deficit and the need to hit the government's six-month waiting-list targets. The move by Oxford Radcliffe trust will leave hundreds of patients with a debilitating condition that reduces their quality of life. Cardiac catheter ablation, a procedure performed in day surgery which is more than 90% successful in curing an irregular heartbeat, will now only be available to a minority of high risk cases. Around 50 patients in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire who had been referred to the heart unit at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford have been taken off the waiting list and told they cannot now have the operation on the NHS. The numbers will build up over the next year. Sarah Boseley, health editor Monday January 2, 2006 The Guardian  
    3 4   Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, yesterday denied the government was responsible for a decision to withdraw a routine treatment from NHS patients which cured Tony Blair's irregular heartbeat in 2004. But her assurances were challenged by cardiologists, who insisted that a pricing bungle by the Department of Health was to blame and that hundreds of patients would suffer as a result. The Guardian disclosed yesterday that Oxford Radcliffe NHS trust has removed about 50 patients with the same condition as the prime minister from its waiting list, in an attempt to balance the books. It will no longer perform cardiac catheter ablations - day surgery to restore the normal rhythms of the heart - unless the patient's condition is a lot more serious than his. John Carvel, social affairs editor Tuesday January 3, 2006 The Guardian
    3 4   Hospital trust attacked for taking heart patients off list. Commenting on Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust's decision to de-list cardiac catheter ablation, the government's national director for heart disease Dr Roger Boyle said that getting the value of the national tariff for the procedure right first time was a "tall order" and the Department of Health was "working to get it right", but it "is no excuse for taking people off waiting lists, however bad the financial problem in the locality." Local Lib Dem MP Evan Harris said the hospital had spent £100,000 treating patients with the condition in the private sector at £7,500 a time: "The NHS won't pay the Radcliffe more than £2,000 per case but it can pay whatever it likes to the private sector. It is just one way that the private sector makes a mint out of stupid NHS targets." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Financial Times 3 January 2006
    3     Heart of the matter. A Public Finance leader warns that "pseudo-markets in the public sector need to be handled with care, or the end result could be less choice, not more. That's certainly the situation in Oxfordshire, where more than 50 patients with irregular heartbeats have been removed from the waiting list."  Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Public Finance 6 January 2006
    3     Cuts force patient to take loan. One of the patients whose operation was cancelled when Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust chose not to offer cardiac catheter ablations for reasons of cost under payment by results has had to take out a £10,000 loan to get private treatment. Mike Collins from Abingdon fears he will have to work past retirement age to repay the loan. In the private sector the treatment costs between £8,000 and £10,000. Mike Collins said: "The NHS has moved the goal posts. I was on a waiting list for almost six months then I was taken off the list to help meet targets. I'm fortunate - I have the option of taking out a loan, other patients on that list might not be able to afford repayments." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  BBC Online 10 January 2006
    3     Oxfordshire's £15m debt "may rise". A report by Thames Valley SHA has said that the county's predicted £15m debt could be "up to £10m worse". Summary by Keep our NHS Public of BBC Online 30 January 2006
    3     Referrals management sparks "major concern". Oxfordshire PCTs have installed a referral management centre with the aim of reducing elective GP referrals to secondary care by up to 20%. Since December 23, a triage panel of administrators, nurses and sometimes doctors intercept GP referrals and decide whether to allow them to proceed to secondary care. If referrals do not pass through the centre, called the clinical advice and liaison service (CALS), Oxfordshire PCTs have said they will not pay for treatment. Martin McNally, a lead clinician at the centre, admitted that "high-risk patients processed through CALS risk being delayed a couple of weeks. Once the backlog is cleared people are still likely to be delayed around ten days." Other areas around the country have similar schemes running.  Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Hospital Doctor 10 February 2006
    3     PCTs block referrals to hit budget targets. The BMA has called on the Government to issue clear guidance to PCTs, urging them not to delay referrals on financial grounds, after it emerged that PCTs are using referral management centres to ration care. All routine referrals at Yorkshire Wolds and Coast PCT had been delayed to push treatment into the next financial year. In South East and South West Oxfordshire PCTs, a clinical advice and liaison service set up to vet all routine referrals sends referrals back to GPs suggesting alternative routes of referral - other consultants, triage or other clinical areas. GPC chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum - who himself had a referral returned to him after a four week delay with a note saying "refer to consultant" - said that referral management schemes made a nonsense of Choose and Book, as it was unclear who made referral decisions. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Doctor Update 9 March 2006
        5 Community Hospitals at risk in Thames Valley  SHA according to Public Finance 17 March 2006:
Townlands Hospital, Henley
Bicester Community Hospital
1         Hospital car parks make millions. Hospitals in England are each charging their patients up to £1.5m a year for car parking. Twelve hospital trusts each raised over £1m in charges, figures obtained by the BBC from the Department of Health under the Freedom of Information Act show. University Hospital Birmingham, raised £1.5 million from car parking charges in 2004-5; Cambridge University NHS Foundation Trust raised more than £1m; Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust raised just over £1m; Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust raised more than £1.2m. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  BBC Online 28 March 2006
    3     Spreading the burden of NHS cuts. Oxfordshire's mental health trust is having to make cuts to save £5.5m despite consistently balancing the books, to offset the deficit of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust. Warneford and Littlemore hospitals in Oxford are facing the prospect fewer beds; seven psychiatric consultants and seven junior doctor posts are to be shed - nearly a tenth of the trust's clinical staff; and a specialist A& E service for self-harm and suicide patients is under threat. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  BBC Online 30 March 2006
    3     Secret plan to ration patient care. Patients are being denied appointments with consultants in a systematic attempt to ration care and save the NHS money. The leaked document - 'Pan London Demand Management Arrangements 06-07' produced by the London Transition Team, led by John Bacon, a senior NHS manager - shows that while ministers promise patients choice, a series of barriers are being erected limiting GPs' rights to refer people to consultants. Health trusts across London have drawn up plans to establish panels that will monitor how many patients are referred to hospital by GPs. Trusts have been told that they must cut GP referral rates to those of the lowest 10%, saving £25m a year. Consultant-to-consultant referrals are also being limited, in many cases denying patients a second opinion. A& E departments are being told to "redirect" 40-70% of patients back to GPs or walk-in centres. Hospitals that treat people who ought to have been sent to their GPs will not be paid. The bureaucracy needed to screen all the referrals will itself cost £1.6m. The Times says: "The language of the document makes no pretence that this will improve care, and emphasises cost savings throughout. 'It is imperative that London balances its books overall,' the first paragraph says." The BMA says similar schemes are running in Kent, Oxfordshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Surrey, Sussex, Cornwall, Shropshire, Suffolk, Lancashire and Yorkshire, as well as London. Jonathan Fielden, deputy chairman of the BMA consultants committee, said: "It's clear that clinicians don't know how these referral management systems aid improvements in clinical care. To them they are purely cost-saving. The way they work is not transparent or clear. If clinicians don't know, patients cannot know either. That certainly flies in the face of the Government's Patient Choice agenda." Myfanwy Davies and Glyn Elwyn, of the Centre for Health Services Research at Cardiff, said the centres had "appeared overnight in an evidence-free zone". Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Times 7 April 2006
          A casualty nurse who sought excitement by injecting patients with potentially fatal drug doses was today found guilty of murdering two people. Benjamin Geen, 25, preyed on patients shortly after they were admitted to the accident and emergency department of the Horton General Hospital in Banbury, Oxfordshire.  Tuesday April 18, 2006
          Up to a third of dentists won't sign NHS contract. Nearly a third of dentists in some parts of England have refused to sign new NHS contracts - contradicting a recent statement by Tony Blair that "about 90 to 95%" of dentists had signed up. A leaked government document, showing exactly how many dentists in each area have taken up the contracts, reveals that in the south west, 29% of dentists have refused to sign up; in the Thames Valley, 15%; in Hampshire, 18%; in Yorkshire, 23%; and in the West Midlands, 24%. In south-west London, the figure is 12%; in Manchester, 11%; in Kent, 14%; and in Dorset, 15%. In Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, 23% have not signed up. Of the 9,419 contracts offered in England, 1,096 have been rejected, including some covering more than one dentist - a national average of 12% more than Mr Blair's claim.  Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Telegraph 16 April 2006
    3     NHS health workers' cuts protest. Doctors and nurses were among the NHS health workers taking part in a May Day rally in Oxford to protest against privatisation of the service. Members of Keep our NHS Public also called for transparency and fewer cuts. Dr Helen Groom, secretary of the Oxford group, said: "The government needs to come clean about what it is actually doing within the service." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  BBC Online 3 May 2006
    3     Trust could axe 600 health posts. Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust has briefed local MPs that it will cut 600 jobs. Banbury MP Tony Baldry said: "Its going to mean longer waiting times. It will undermine the viability of Horton hospital as a general hospital." Mark Ladbrooke, from the health union Unison, described the situation facing Oxfordshire as "particularly unfair". A trust spokesman said: "Over the past three years, the trust has reduced its costs significantly, so that, according to Department of Health figures, it is now 6% cheaper than the average acute trust and is the most efficient large acute trust in England. However, Oxfordshire receives less than 85% of the national average funding for health services and further cost reductions and performance improvements are necessary." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  BBC Online 17 May 2006
    3     Oxford hospitals to cut 600 jobs. Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals have announced plans to cut 600 jobs; taking the total number of job cuts announced by NHS trusts to 12,000 since the beginning of March. Oxford, which operates four hospitals employing almost 10,000 staff, said the cuts were needed to save £33m. Four Oxfordshire Conservative MPs, including David Cameron, the party leader, have written to the prime minister saying NHS staff and patients should not pay "for the government's unfair funding system". Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Financial Times 26 May 2006
          NHS still pays for axed operations. South West Oxfordshire PCT is still footing the bill for a privately-run mobile eye unit which has withdrawn its service from south Oxfordshire due to a lack of patients, despite being previously assured that it would not have to cover the costs. The cataract operation clinic, run by South African firm Netcare, no longer makes regular visits to Wantage, even though the PCT is still paying part of the £2m four-year contract forced on it by Government ministers. The Government announced in 2003 that the mobile unit would travel around the UK to reduce a backlog of patients waiting longer than three months for cataract operations. South West Oxfordshire PCT board members turned down plans for Netcare to visit its area, fearing it would not be used and would impact on Oxford Eye Hospital, where there were few delays. Chairman Martin Avis later resigned when the board was forced to reconsider its decision, on the understanding that Thames Valley Health Authority would underwrite the contract if patients failed to use the service. Speaking about Netcare's withdrawal from Wantage, he said: "There was a clear agreement that the PCT would not be liable for any shortfall. It was absolutely not to be paid by the PCTs if patients did not use it." But now Thames Valley Health Authority has said: "We had been working with the Department of Health to underwrite the contract but that money wasn't forthcoming. The PCT is aware that it's our expectation they will bear the cost." The eye clinic was contracted to do 400 operations in Wantage every year, at an annual cost of about £500,000. Last year, only 160 were done. The 240 excess procedures were sold to other health authorities at a discounted rate, leaving SW Oxfordshire PCT with a wasted £150,000 bill. If the PCT fails to sell Netcare's next two years' operations to other health authorities, it will incur further costs of £1m. Lib Dem MP Dr Evan Harris said: "This is yet more evidence that this was a preposterous white elephant imposed by Government on Oxfordshire." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Oxford Mail 27 May 2006
    3     600 posts to go in £33m cuts. Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals trust is to axe 600 posts in a £33m package of cuts. A statement from the trust, which runs four hospitals employing 10,000 people, warned there would be compulsory redundancies. Chief executive Trevor Campbell-Davis blamed poor funding for health services in Oxfordshire - 15% below the national average for England: "According to Department of Health figures the trust is already the most cost-efficient large acute trust in the country." Vacancies are already being frozen while support services such as human resources and facilities are likely to be hit in a 'streamlining' operation. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Health Service Journal 31 May 2006
    3     PCT forced to pay £120K for 'nothing'. A strategic health authority that promised to underwrite a controversial contract in order to get it signed has reneged on the agreement. As a result the PCT forced into the deal will have to pay a private company £120,000 for doing nothing. Thames Valley SHA promised in 2003 to underwrite the financial risk of an ISTC contract with Netcare to provide mobile units doing cataract operations. South West Oxfordshire PCT initially refused to sign the deal, arguing it was not needed. Under pressure from the SHA and the DoH, it agreed to sign - but only after it was given the guarantee. The mobile unit no longer visits south west Oxfordshire, as so few patients chose it. But the SHA is now refusing to bear the costs, leaving the PCT with an annual bill of £60,000 for the next two years. Martin Avis, who was PCT chairman in 2003 and whose contract was not renewed as a result of the ISTC furore, said: "This is outrageous. An absolute assurance, verbally and in writing, was given to the PCT that there would be no financial risk to it." Jane Hanna, who was non-executive director of the PCT in 2003, told the Commons Health Committee earlier this year that she had resigned "after experiencing other decisions where the PCT was required to rubberstamp national policy but required to present decisions as local decisions". Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Hospital Doctor 8 June 2006
    3     'Come and see for yourself'. Union leaders have called on Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt to come and work at Oxfordshire hospitals to see the impact NHS cuts will have on services. At a packed Keep Our NHS Public meeting in Oxford, Bryan Nicholls, Unison leader in the Oxford Radcliffe Trust, said the £35m of cuts to county health services could not fail to harm patients and staff. The event also saw the launch of a manifesto on which five campaigners will stand for election to the board of the new Oxfordshire NHS PCT, set to replace the five district PCTs in October. Oxfordshire county council Green group leader Larry Sanders, who resigned from his role as non-executive director of Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare Trust after being told he could not inform the public about planned NHS cuts, said: "It's vital that non-executive directors use their position to inform the public and encourage vigorous debate about policies which reduce the quality of NHS care year by year, while using public money to develop private care."  Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Oxford Mail 12 June 2006
          To those that have shall be given. New research into GP referral rates in primary care trusts in England yields startling results: referrals seem to decline steadily as deprivation and need increase. The analysis has been conducted by data analysts Dr Foster Intelligence. The Airedale PCT in West Yorkshire, for instance, had one of the lowest rates, with referrals 42% below the norm. At the other end of the scale, Barnet's practices in suburban north London had a referral rate 52% above average. All three Bradford trusts, next to Airedale, had referral rates 30%-35% below average, as did Blackburn with Darwen PCT in Lancashire. By contrast, Richmond and Twickenham in south London, Huntingdonshire in Cambridgeshire, North East Oxfordshire and South West Oxfordshire referred at more than double those rates. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Guardian 14 June 2006
    3     Thousands march over hospital cuts. Thousands of people in Oxfordshire have been protesting at NHS cuts as the area's NHS attempts to save£33m. The proposed cuts will see a children's ward close, a maternity unit modified, and up to 600 job losses. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of BBC Online 19 June 2006
        5 Thousands turn out to defend their hospital. Up to 4,000 people descended on Peoples Park, Banbury to show their opposition to proposed £1 million cuts at the Horton Hospital in Oxfordshire. Campaign stalwart George Parish, chairman of the Keep the Horton General Committee, and Peter Fisher of Keep Our NHS Public were amongst those who addressed the crowd. The main areas under threat by the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust's proposals are paediatrics, emergency surgery and trauma, maternity, gynaecology, microbiology and cleaning. Further protests are planned. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Banbury Today 20 June 2006
    3     Hospital pays off surgeons in cash crisis. The first consultant surgeons to be made redundant as a result of the financial crisis in the NHS have been given their notice by Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust. The trust, which has a £33m deficit, stated that they have identified a "reduced number of gastrointestinal procedures. We are, therefore, matching our capacity to the reduced use of this service." However Johnathan Fielden, deputy chairman of the BMA's consultants' committee, described the redundancies as "a deplorable step that shows the state of the financial crisis that many trusts are in. This will have a significant impact on patient care." At this week's BMA conference in Belfast, Chairman James Johnson is expected to say that government reforms have delivered bad value for money and two official reports out this week are expected to show that patients are still receiving substandard care. A report form the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development will show the NHS lagging behind 30 other European countries in some areas. It will single out breast cancer death rates, number of radiotherapy machines, and number of doctors as comparatively poor; it will also report that Britain has almost half the ratio of doctors to patients as Greece and Italy. Another report, from the NHS inspectorate, is expected to single out treatment for lung disease as particularly poor. Johnson is expected to tell the BMA that the government's reforms could further damage the NHS as district general hospitals running casualty departments, intensive care units, and maternity wards lose resources to privately run treatment centres. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Times 25 June 2006
          The multi-billion pound computer system built to run NHS patient records is experiencing so many problems that there are concerns people could be put at 'clinical risk', with missed appointments and lost records meaning that some hospitals have pulled out of the scheme in despair. Jamie Doward, home affairs editor Sunday June 25, 2006 The Observer [The new system has been blamed for delays by some hospitals: the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford has already experienced problems printing letters which have led to delayed appointments.]
          The five specialist orthopaedic hospitals in England may have to abandon complex surgery on hips and bones because of a bizarre twist in the government's rules to turn the NHS into a competitive market, chief executives warned last night. In a private briefing paper for MPs, they said patients are set to become the victims of the health secretary Patricia Hewitt's new system of payment by results. They observed that much routine orthopaedic surgery is being diverted into private sector treatment centres, leaving the five NHS centres of excellence to concentrate on more highly skilled work. However, they said the national price list for every type of operation did not recognise the extra costs of more difficult work. The five hospitals are: the Royal National Orthopaedic hospital at Stanmore, Middlesex; the Nuffield Orthopaedic centre in Oxford; Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt hospital in Oswestry, Shropshire; Royal Orthopaedic hospital in Birmingham; and Wrightington hospital in Wigan. John Carvel, social affairs editor Thursday July 6, 2006 The Guardian
          Children who are taken to the doctor with a bad cough that has lasted for more than two weeks are quite likely to have whooping cough - even if they were vaccinated as a baby, researchers claim today. Doctors from Oxford say they found that nearly 40% of such children had the infection, and they are asking GPs to think again when faced with diagnosing children with persistent coughs. Some children are being prescribed asthma drugs which they do not need. While vaccinated children are likely to get a milder form of the disease, they are at risk of passing it to young babies in the family who have not been immunised. Sarah Boseley, health editor Friday July 7, 2006 The Guardian
    3     Surgeons among 200 staff losing jobs. Two consultant surgeons are to be made redundant at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital as part of huge NHS cutbacks. Up to 200 staff at city hospitals are now likely to lose their jobs over the next few months. The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust is facing a deficit of £33m and has announced plans to cut 600 posts, including 225 nursing and midwifery staff. Now it has emerged that the trust has given two consultant gastrointestinal surgeons, one full-time and one part-time, three months' notice. Dr Helen Groom, a spokesman for Keep Our NHS Public in Oxfordshire, said: "If the trust sticks to its target of trying to reduce a £33m deficit, then some jobs will have to go, but staff are afraid to speak out because they fear they will be suspended." The lobby group has welcomed the unanimous support of county council members for a motion calling for a halt to the health cuts. At the Horton hospital in Banbury planned cutbacks include ending round-the-clock children's services, closing the special care baby unit and closing operating theatres for out-of-hours surgery. Last Thursday, petitions signed by 50,000 county people opposing the cuts were handed in to the Government. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Oxford Mail 28 June 2006
    3     Stark Warning. A report from Oxfordshire County Council's director for social and community services has criticised a lack of consideration for the knock on effects of rapid NHS budget cuts. Councillor Charles Waddicor singled out the speed of budget balancing that left no time to consider the full impact of cuts, saying that the measures should be phased in over two or three years in order to take a measured look at any proposals. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Oxford Mail 14 July 2006
    3     O&G consultants face axe. Two of the 13 obstetric and gynaecology consultants at Hinchingbrooke Healthcare NHS Trust in Cambridgeshire are facing compulsory redundancy, along with a departmental secretary. A total of 41 jobs, 30 of them clinical, are to go at the hospital, which had a £6.5m deficit at the end of the last financial year. A second wave of redundancies is likely towards the end of the summer, and a third has not been ruled out. The trust is paying accountants KPMG to help it save it money, reportedly at a cost of £250,000. Earlier this month, it emerged that two consultant gastrointestinal surgeons at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospital had been put on notice of redundancy. The trust, which says that around eight further senior medical posts could be under threat, has also withdrawn a job offer already made to a haematologist. Around 20 trusts are considering doctor redundancies, according to the BMA. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Hospital Doctor 20 July 2006
          Private clinic coming to NOC. A deal between Oxford consultants and an American health care company has prompted new fears about the future of the local NHS. The first fruit of a new public-private partnership at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre will be the creation of the Oxford Clinic for Specialist Surgery in September. NOC managers deny it is privatisation. The speed of developments has surprised the Oxford Keep Our NHS Public campaign. Mark Ladbrooke, of Unison, said he feared what financial implications there would be for the NOC, which had borrowed heavily to invest in new buildings. He added: "There is huge concern for staff being transferred in and out of the NHS. There are serious implications in changing people's terms and conditions. As for the bigger picture, I fear this will result in people getting less NHS for their money." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Oxford Mail 21 July 2006
    3     NHS cutbacks hit social care. Oxfordshire's social services are creaking at the seams because of the NHS funding crisis, councillors claim. On Tuesday, members of the Tory-run council's cabinet called for a halt to cuts in community-based NHS services. They were told that the knock-on effects meant the council had already spent £250,000 more on social care at this stage of the financial year than projected. It is almost certain this figure will more than double by the end of March next year as demand for council-run services grows due to NHS cuts. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Oxford Mail 20 July 2006
          Senior hospital managers were condemned today for failing to tackle repeat outbreaks of a deadly stomach bug, that killed at least 65 people and infected several hundred. The bosses of Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, were censured by NHS inspectorate, the Healthcare Commission, for prioritising political targets, such as reducing waiting times over patient safety. There were 174 cases of the potentially fatal bug Clostridium difficile in the first outbreak at the hospital between October 2003 and June 2004, and another 160 cases in the second between October 2004 and June 2005. Of the 38 patients who died in the outbreaks, 33 definitely contracted the infection after being admitted to the hospital. But the Healthcare Commission found that over three years a total of 65 deaths at the hospital were linked to the C-bug. In a damning report the infection definitely or probably killed 41 patients and contributed to the deaths of another 24. The report came as it emerged there was a 17.2% increase in cases of Clostridium difficile in hospitals throughout England last year. The Health Protection Agency, the national body responsible for tackling infectious diseases, found there were 51,690 cases in 2005, up from 44,107 in 2004. David Batty Monday July 24, 2006 Guardian Unlimited
          At least 41 pensioners were killed by a hospital superbug in the squalid wards of Stoke Mandeville because senior executives ignored the dangers and concentrated on delivering the government's waiting time targets, health inspectors warned yesterday. Even after a public outcry prompted an investigation by the Healthcare Commission, the renowned hospital in Aylesbury failed to introduce basic measures of infection control. Earlier this year, when the NHS trust had supposedly corrected its mistakes, inspectors witnessed "dirty wards, dirty toilets and commodes, bedding and equipment lying on floors, faeces on bed rails, pubic hair in baths, mould and cobwebs in showers". John Carvel, social affairs editor Tuesday July 25, 2006 The Guardian
        5 Public get say on health plans. The people of Abingdon and Wantage will get their say on the future of healthcare in the district following fears they could be left out of talks. Despite proposals to possibly close Wantage Hospital and reduce services at Abingdon, the Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust did not originally include the two towns on a list of places where residents would be consulted. Current thinking among the health authorities is that Wantage and Henley hospitals should close, Abingdon may be downgraded to a day care centre, Didcot would become a maternity unit and that Wallingford should be expanded to a 60-bed unit. A jointly-organised petition has already attracted 30,000 signatures, with residents wanting all hospitals to remain open. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Abingdon Herald 27 July 2006
          Wesson was unlawfully sacked. The Appointments Commission has admitted unlawfully sacking a non-executive director of a primary care trust who opposed an ill-fated independent treatment centre contract. Paul Wesson was sacked as a non-executive director of South West Oxfordshire PCT last year, but when he sought a judicial review of his case the commission accepted that it should not have terminated his contract. He was one of five non-executives at the PCT who initially opposed a £2m contract to buy hundreds of cataract operations from private firm Netcare as part of a national contract. But the work will not now be carried out by Netcare due to a lack of demand. Mr Wesson said the sacking process started when he mistakenly sent an e-mail to local campaigners discussing possible closures of local community hospitals. He was told by the Appointment Commission that he would face disciplinary action and a decision was taken to terminate his contract. Mr Wesson has since applied to be a non-executive director of the new Oxfordshire PCT and for a similar position with South Central SHA. He said: "My card has been marked, but it is not fair because all I had been doing was my job, which was to robustly challenge the PCT's decision. I was effectively sacked for arguing with them, but everything I did was constructively challenging." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Health Service Journal 27 July 2006
        5 Developers eye up hospital site. Banbury's Horton Hospital site has been suggested as suitable for housing development but health bosses in Oxford have denied they want to bring in the builders. The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust says it wants to improve nurses' accommodation at the Horton, not bulldoze the whole site. Banbury's Civic Society Spokesman Rob Kinchin- Smith said: "We are constantly reassured that the ORH Trust has no intention of closing the Horton. "How interesting, therefore, that someone, presumably the Trust itself, has put the entire Horton site forward as a site for residential redevelopment.'  Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Oxford Mail 3 August 2006
    3     NHS job cuts in Bucks. Nurses, therapists and employees working with children, adults and elderly people at community level will lose their jobs in a effort to cut local NHS spending. The cuts, aimed at dropping £2.5million, or seven per cent, from the pay bill of £35.7million, are being proposed by three primary care trusts in Bucks; Wycombe, Chiltern South Bucks, and Vale of Aylesbury. Proposed cuts to the community care pay bill of Buckinghamshire's three primary care trusts involve axing the number of overall jobs by around 56 and employing larger numbers of less skilled staff. The report detailing this comes with a warning that changes may reduce patient care and cause stress to staff, to say nothing of public alarm. It may lead to bed blocking, more people going to hospital for treatment, loss of specialist workers and a significant impact on some children. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Buckinghamshire Free Press 4 August 2006
          Let's go private. A group of Oxford surgeons have held talks with city council planning officers about building a £30m private hospital on NHS-owned land in Littlemore. Proposals to create a 40-bed hospital, with four operating theatres, on the site in Armstrong Road are being put forward by 46 consultants at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, who have created their own company. Negotiations have been taking place with the Department of Health to see if the site could be passed to the NOC, to allow it to expand its private and research work. Gavin Bowden, one of the consultants behind the scheme, said: "In the long run, the hospital would be made available to service the needs of all patients - NHS, private and medical insurance. The Oxford Keep Our NHS Public Campaign has criticised the plan. Secretary Dr Helen Groom said: "It seems madness to be building a new private hospital when people are talking about closing down current NHS facilities." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Oxford Mail 7 August 2006
1   3     Health Staff "sick" at cuts. Health workers, pensioners and trade unionists protested against NHS cuts across Oxfordshire on Saturday outside the half-built East Oxford Medical Centre on Manzil Gardens in Oxford. They were objecting to 600 job cuts planned by Oxford Radcliffe Hospital NHS Trust as it tries to find £33m in savings. Dr Helen Groom, spokesmen for the Oxfordshire branch of Keep Our NHS Public, said that patients were already feeling the effect of cuts. She said: "Cuts in mental health mean the day hospitals, which people did not have to pay for, have turned into day centres, which patients have to pay to go to…The cuts mean there will be 700 less outpatient clinics at the Oxford Radcliffe, which will mean patients will wait longer for treatment". The protesters explained their choice of location by saying that PFI deals, like the East Oxford Health Centre, were placing strain upon the NHS that was contributing to cuts. Dr Groom said: "The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust have to make £33m of cuts this year. By the time we get to 2008 they will be paying £36m each year to private finance companies. Our worry is that the government s handing over little parts of the health service to the private sector. We feel it is wrong that tax payers' money is no longer staying in the NHS and is instead going into the pockets of private investors." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Oxford Mail 7 August 2006
    3     Patient care 'hit by spending lottery'. A report by the King's Fund has highlighted "serious questions" about the postcode lottery of health care in England. Even when the socio- economic needs of local people are taken into account, there is still wide variation in primary care trust (PCT) spending on mental health, cancer and circulatory problems. For example, after adjusting for such factors, Islington PCT spends £259 a head on mental health - about four times the £66 spent by Bracknell Forest PCT. The proportion of PCT budgets spent on cancer also varies widely across England - from 3 per cent to more than 10 per cent of the overall budget. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Times 9 August 2006
          Targets have failed the NHS. Last month's report by the Healthcare Commission on the outbreaks of infectious diarrhoea in Stoke Mandeville hospital, in which 334 patients fell ill and at least 33 died, showed that managers overrode the advice of the expert clinicians on their own staff and thus failed to isolate infected patients to control the outbreak. This active mismanagement was driven by a need to meet targets, in particular the requirement to clear patients from the accident and emergency department within four hours. Patients in A& E with infections were admitted to open wards rather than isolation facilities, which were in short supply. Almost equally disturbing is the sharp rise in hospital readmission rates - by nearly a quarter since 2002, according to government figures released this week. The most likely explanation is premature discharge of patients by hospital trusts under pressure of targets. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Times 10 August 2006
          Choice of hospital exposed as a sham. Patients are being denied treatment at their chosen hospital to ensure Government waiting targets are not breached. A Pulse inquiry has uncovered numerous examples of PCTs deleting popular hospitals from the menu of choices available to GPs using Choose and Book to ensure no patient waits longer than 13 weeks. The move has left GPs increasingly unable to book slots at patients' preferred hospital, forcing people to travel long distances to less popular clinics even when they would prefer to wait longer. The clinician in charge of Choose and Book has even revealed PCT chief executives could be at risk of the sack if they allowed patients to book slots past 13 weeks. Dr Mark Davies, clinical lead for Choose and Book at Connecting for Health, said the system allowed slots to be booked up to 180 days ahead - but commissioners had the power to take hospitals off menus if they could not offer a booking inside the 13-week target. He said: "It would be unusual for any chief executive that wants to remain in post to release slots that can be booked past 13 weeks." Areas and specialities where choice is being restricted include orthopaedics in Bristol and Exeter; ENT and cardiology in Cornwall; foot and ankle surgery in Leeds; ENT and orthopaedics in Liverpool and Swanage; and various specialities in Milton Keynes. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Pulse 11 August 2006. [This seems to force patients to accept an offer involving long travelling even if they would prefer to wait slightly longer for the local hospital]

Reply from Milton Keynes PCT  largely confirming the report.
          NHS plc: a dire diagnosis. Private Eye says: "No sooner had a cross-party committee of MPs heavily criticised the government's use of independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs) than the Department of Health defiantly announced that these private sector companies would be given £lbn worth of contracts to run a series of "diagnostic centres". The identities of the lucky firms show how commercial the business of healthcare has become. The London and east England contract goes to Amicus InHealth… owned by a consortium of South African private health outfit Netcare, which botched a contract to provide cataract operations in Oxfordshire; Apax, a private equity group set up by New Labour favourite Sir Ronald Cohen; and Inhealth, a company chaired by serial private health director Tim Chessells and owned by a mysterious Luxembourg fund called Pegasus. Doubtless this bunch has nothing but the nation's health in mind as it makes crucial diagnoses and won't be unduly inclined to push people to independent treatment centres of the sort run by, er, Netcare. Meanwhile in the South West the record of the (management) consultants at Atos Origin in providing the over-priced and unpopular choose-and-book system for hospital referrals was no bar to their success. Nor in the South East were there too many concerns about the conflicts of interest presented by handing the diagnosis deal to the country's biggest private hospital operator, the taxdodging BUPA. West Midlands patients will be able to benefit from the services of Mercury Healthcare, the company that has already been paid millions for work it hasn't done and whose "group strategy director" is one Mark Smith, the former chief executive of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS trust who resigned after the trust received zero stars. From there he became head of health at PFI firm Amey working closely with Ken Anderson... who now just happens to be doling out the diagnostic centre contracts as "commercial director" of the NHS. Appropriately enough in the North East the diagnostics contract has gone to Alliance Medical, the company owned by yet another private equity group, Bridgepoint - former employer of Geordie New Labour man and ex-Health Secretary Alan Milburn. The company's previous forays into the health service include a £95m contract to run MRI scans which were so poor they had to be checked by the NHS anyway, leading the British Medical Association to describe the firm's performance as "a complete disaster". So depending on where you live, your next illness could well be diagnosed by an incompetent or a profiteer - or more likely a combination of the two." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Private Eye 16 August 2006
        5 Breast-feeding clinic at risk. Mums across Oxfordshire are mounting a campaign to save a world-renowned breast-feeding clinic at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital. Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust is facing a £33m deficit and is planning to make major cuts, including 600 posts. Two-hundred staff, including two surgeons, will lose their jobs this summer. The trust wants to shut the Horton's special care baby unit, downgrade maternity services and close the 24-hour children's ward. Campaigners say the number of deliveries per year could increase from 6,500 to 8,000 at the John Radcliffe's maternity unit if the proposed cuts are made at the Horton, and there will then be an even greater need for the clinic, which was launched in 1991. Julia Horsnell, who is fighting the proposal, said any financial savings would be "minimal" because there was only one salaried member of staff. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Oxford Mail 25 August 2006
        5 Protest gathers pace. Objections and protests are continuing to halt plans to cut health services in north Oxfordshire. The Keep the Horton General campaign has called for a human chain to be formed around the Horton Hospital, Banbury. The group is opposing Oxford Radcliffe Hospital Trust's proposal to downgrade services at the hospital, which would see the closure of the special care baby unit, and a reduction in children's and maternity care. Emergency operations, gynaecology services and some laboratory testing are all also under threat. Cherwell District Council has accused the trust of breaking past promises to maintain the Horton and said the move would be contrary to Government policy. The council's executive also said the changes would put patients at a higher level of risk, forcing them to travel to Oxford for care, and barely meeting existing needs, let alone future demands. The council's report said: "The council urges the trust to rethink its deeply unpopular proposals, which are not supported by the local community or local media professionals." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Banbury Cake 25 August 2006
        5 Oxford man to fight closure of pain unit. An Oxford man has received the backing of a High Court judge for a review of the future of the Chronic Pain Relief Unit at the city's Churchill Hospital. Kevin Comley and Vera Marriott are challenging the way the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust carried out consultation over the clinic which treats more than 3,000 patients a year. The trust is proposing closure of part of the in-patient part of the unit as part of cutbacks because of an annual overspend of more than £30m. High Court judge Mr Justice Collins has granted permission for a judicial review of the claim against the trust. But the case is effectively adjourned for several months for the trust to negotiate a settlement on the issue to avert a further hearing. Mr Comley said: "The pain unit is vital to me. The PCT have not thought about patients, not fully consulted them about what is going to happen. Even now most people don't understand how it's going to affect them… I feel they are trying to shove everything under the rug, ride roughshod over everyone without them being given enough information about what is going on." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Oxford Times 1September 2006
        5 Hospital campaign gathers strength. A hospital campaigner says an information stall on the future of Bicester's health facilities has proved so popular he will run it longer than planned. Labour councillor Les Sibley said he had received hundreds of replies to surveys about the future of Bicester Community Hospital over the past month. Bicester was promised a new 30-bed hospital by the Government in 1998, but the North East Oxfordshire PCT plans to replace the town's 12-bed hospital with a primary care day centre, where beds would be rented from a local care home. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Bicester Advertiser 8 September 2006
        5 MPs could probe ward closure. The closure of a Holderness cottage hospital ward may be scrutinised by the House of Commons health select committee if it is found that services are being cut as a result of overspending. Committee chairman and Rother Valley MP Kevin Barron said: "We are continuing to look into the NHS deficits issue and what's happening where there has been overspend and it might be that this is one of those cases. If it came to our attention we would look at it. We need to know whether this has come about as a result of deficits." Yorkshire Wolds and Coast PCT announced last week it was shutting the 12-bed ward because it could not afford to recruit agency staff to cover at the hospital. The trust said current staffing levels were putting patients and staff at risk. It described the closure as temporary and said it would review the situation in March. But a national lobby group, which includes senior doctors and trades union leaders among its ranks, has accused the trust's managers of using stealth tactics to bring about the permanent closure of the ward. The group, Keep Our NHS Public, fears the ward will close for good when it stops admitting patients on October 1. Spokesman Alex Nunns said: "We've seen this in other parts of the country where trusts close a ward and say it's only for a limited period of time, and when that time is up, surprise, surprise, it doesn't open again. It's a method managers use to close things down." The axeing of the ward infuriated many in the area, including those who successfully blocked plans to shut the hospital's minor injury unit last year. Campaigners are considering a legal challenge and Mr Nunns said he believed that was worth pursuing. He said: "Closing a ward is a major service change and patients have legal rights to be consulted. They need to use those rights to keep this ward open. There was a case in Oxford where they planned to close a pain relief unit, and just the threat of legal action from patients forced a U-turn. Legal action is available to patients and we would encourage them to use it." Staff from the ward, who are being transferred to other services in the area, are also said to be unhappy at the decision. Polly Worsdale, East Riding councillor for North Holderness, and a member of Holderness Hospitals Action Group, said: "Just after it was announced I saw one of the nurses and she was in tears. All they want to do is look after people." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Yorkshire Post 10 September 2006
        5 Rotary joins Save the Horton campaign. Banbury Rotary Club has joined the list of campaigners fighting to save Banbury's Horton Hospital. The Rotarians have concerns about what would happen in the event of a major motorway accident near Banbury if the nearest emergency department was at Oxford, and they fear businesses might move away from Banbury if health services are not at hand. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Banbury Cake 14 September 2006
          Health inspectors announced an inquiry yesterday into an outbreak of the hospital infection Clostridium difficile which contributed to the deaths of 20 patients at an NHS trust in Kent. The Healthcare Commission said C difficile had emerged as the most serious hospital-acquired infection, causing more deaths than the superbug MRSA. Its inspectors will look into an outbreak at Maidstone hospital, where 136 patients were diagnosed with the infection between April and June. Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS trust said the infection was the definite cause of death of six patients. Another 14 died due to a range of medical problems including C difficile, but the infection was not deemed to be the main cause of death. A further four had C difficile, but it was unlikely to have led to their deaths. The commission said the infection was the major infectious cause of diarrhoea acquired in hospitals in the UK and may cause fatal inflammation of the walls of the intestine. In July the commission published the findings of an inquiry into three outbreaks of C difficile at Stoke Mandeville hospital near Aylesbury which may have killed at least 41 older people since 2003.  John Carvel, social affairs editor Wednesday September 27, 2006 The Guardian
        5 Costs anger over hospital unit. Anger is growing over the cost of Banbury's new privately-run orthopaedic centre. The centre, which opened on August 1, is costing the NHS £1.33m a month, or almost £16m a year, and the figure has sparked outrage amongst campaigners fighting to save services at the Horton Hospital. Oxfordshire's primary care trusts, including Cherwell Vale PCT, are contributing just under half of the amount - £575,000 a month. The remainder of the money is coming from PCTs in Milton Keynes, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire, which will also send patients to the unit. Local campaigners claim cuts to services at the Horton, proposed by the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust, will save only £1.85m a year - the equivalent of six week's payment to private healthcare provider Capio UK, which owns and runs the orthopaedic centre on the Horton Hospital site. The £1.33m is guaranteed - and is not dependent on how many, or how few, patients are treated at the Capio building. Heather Barnett, spokesman for Cherwell Vale PCT, said the initial cost of the unit to Cherwell was £4.6m for the eight months from August 1 to March 31 - the equivalent of £575,000 a month. She said: "The PCT has a budget of £600m a year and that puts the £4.6m into context. The contract with Capio is for five years, and the cost of the first full year will be over £6m. Until recently Cherwell Vale PCT was block-buying operations at the John Radcliffe Hospital, so paying a set figure for treatments is not a new concept." District and town councillor George Parish, chairman of the "Save the Horton" action group, said: "When the PCT was block-buying from the JR, the money stayed within the NHS. The Capio money goes outside the NHS and the more money that goes out, the more the NHS debt builds up. Figures from the ORH Trust show the cost of maintaining services at the Horton would be £1.85m a year, yet £4.6m is going to Capio in eight months." Local councillor Kieron Mallon said: "Every six weeks, the money needed to keep children's and maternity services and the special care baby unit at the Horton is being spent on this Government scheme. Over the whole year, this sum represents half of Oxfordshire's NHS debt." A Horton campaigner, who did not want to be named, said: "Even the Government's stated aims of competition and patient choice are not being met. There is no competition if the income is guaranteed, and patients are not getting a choice because orthopaedic treatment has been discontinued at the Horton." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Banbury Cake 22 September 2006
        5 Hospital rally aimed at new PCT. A health campaigner is planning a rally to mark the last of his information stalls on the future of Bicester's Community Hospital. Local councillor Les Sibley is urging people to turn out next Saturday to show their support for his campaign. Mr Sibley has used his information stall to gather local opinion on the future of Bicester's Community Hospital for the past six weeks. He said he had given out thousands of surveys to people worried about the town's facilities. Now he plans to examine the results and present them to the new Oxfordshire-wide Primary Care Trust. Mr Sibley said: "I am convinced people power can change the path that the PCT have set themselves on. We have had a tremendous response so far. We want to make sure the new chief executive gets the clear message that we will not give up the fight for a new hospital. We will do whatever we can and unite as a community." The North East Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust plans to replace the town's current 12-bed hospital with a primary care centre, where beds would be rented from a local care home. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Bicester Advertiser 22 September 2006
        5 Reprieve for breastfeeding clinic. Plans to move a world-renowned breastfeeding clinic in Oxford have been put on hold. Last month, the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust announced the closure of the popular clinic at the John Radcliffe Hospital. But now the clinic has been given a reprieve, and campaigners this week warned hospital managers that they would have a fight on their hands if they tried to resurrect the plans. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Oxford Times 22 September 2006
    3     Nursing redundancies increasing pressure on GPs. Buckinghamshire's Overview and Scrutiny Committee for Public Health has raised concerns about health chiefs proposed £2.5m cuts, in particular the removal of 50 community nurses. Chairman of the committee, Cllr Mike Appleyard, said that they needed to work more closely with other agencies to cope with any knock-on effect from the reductions in community nursing and beds. He added that the committee had received many angry submissions from doctors concerned about the cuts. Union leaders slammed the plans with Patricia Marquis, Royal College of Nursing manager for the Thames Valley, saying: "We are concerned about the loss of jobs and the impact on primary care. You cannot cut 50 posts and expect things to continue as they are." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Bucks Free Press 26 September 2006
        5 Marlow hospital threat. Fears over the future of Marlow Cottage Hospital have been raised as MPs slammed NHS cuts aimed at saving £2.5million in the county. Three PCTs in Bucks have a combined debt of £18m and have been told to reduce this to £7m by April 2007. They intend to cut staff and services to raise £2.5m, including around 50 community and district nurses. Marlow MP Paul Goodman said the axeing of community hospitals was a distinct possibility. Marlow Cottage Hospital has already had its beds reduced from 13 to six as a "temporary measure" to cut costs. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Bucks Free Press 29 September 2006
        5 Hospital bosses set to confirm controversial moves. Hospital executives are set to announce they are pressing ahead with plans to transfer women's and children's services from Wycombe Hospital - but admit the delay in making the move has caused stress and anxiety among patients and staff. A report has recommended that moving the services to Stoke Mandeville Hospital should go ahead despite mass public outcry. Health officials have said the need to move the children's services, including the special care baby unit and maternity wards, is now urgent because consultants are working overtime and staff morale is low due to more than two years of anxiety over the changes. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Bucks Free Press 29 September 2006
    3     'NHS cuts have made service better'. Oxfordshire's main hospitals are pressing ahead with plans to win foundation trust status despite having to wrestle with debts of £33m. Trevor Campbell Davis, chief executive of Oxford Radcliffe Hospital Trusts, claimed that the cost-cutting had actually improved the quality and speed of services for patients. He disclosed that he expects the John Radcliffe, Churchill and the Horton Hospital, Banbury, to apply for Foundation Trust status next April. He said it now looked like "no more than 60 staff" would be made redundant under the cost-cutting programme. Although a total of 600 jobs are having to disappear, the rest would result from non-replacement of staff. The trust had lost 160 beds, 30 more than the figure announced in the summer. Davis warned there was a risk of some patients having to wait for beds this winter. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Oxford Times 29 September 2006
    3     Cameron vows to end NHS woe. David Cameron has attributed his "Stop Brown's NHS cuts" campaign, due for launch next week, to cuts in his home county. The Witney MP and Tory leader said: "Oxfordshire has helped inspire me to make this into a big national campaign." Competition for patients, as well as payment by results, have been blamed as the root of much of Oxfordshire's NHS problems. Despite record investment, 29 staff in the county have been made redundant and many more are under threat. Although saying that his party was not yet ready to unveil detailed health policies, he criticised "too much top-down centralisation and not nearly enough letting professionals take control". He also denied that he wanted to privatise the health service but described government limits on private sector involvement as "odd", suggesting an expansion of its role under a Tory government. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Oxford Mail 3 October 2006
        5 Doctors tell of fears over cutbacks. Family doctors have branded cutbacks to children's and maternity services at Banbury's Horton Hospital as unsafe and inhumane. The North Oxfordshire and South Northants GP Forum - the voice of doctors in the Horton's patient catchment area - made the claims in its response to plans by the Trust to end 24-hour children's in-patient and emergency services, reduce maternity and obstetrics cover, and close the special care baby unit at the Horton. Under the proposals, children needing overnight care or emergency out-of-hours treatment would be sent direct to the John Radcliffe Hospital. The GPs say they must oppose the cutbacks on grounds of safety, sustainability, and on the reduction to basic health care and choice for patients which will affect the most vulnerable. The GP's statement says: "Local services for children have a significant impact on the viability of other hospital departments especially maternity and A& E. It is evident that paediatric emergencies such as meningitis, septicaemia, respiratory distress, and serious poisoning may all incur dangerous delay in receiving appropriate care if the nearest paediatric department is an hour away. Serious, life-threatening illnesses do not confine themselves to the working day." Mothers who required unexpected medical care during birth would need rapid transfer to Oxford which "would carry significant risk and would be inhumane." The doctors say that without 24-hour paediatric care, the A& E department could not take paediatric emergencies, and the domino effect would result in the A& E department being downgraded to a minor injuries unit. The doctors went on to say: "A general impression is that the proposed changes are a foregone conclusion. The Trust's justifications for this have shifted between financial pressures, staff recruitment issues, college accreditation, and changes to EU working hours. All these issues are real but none are insuperable if there was a will to maintain quality services close to our patients. We have found ourselves untrusting of firmly asserted facts presented to us which do not hold up under further scrutiny. We have little confidence in the process of consultation, and the spirit in which it has been conducted. The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust proposals will result in services that are unsafe and unsustainable, and not in the best interests of patients. They will increase demands on an already overstretched ambulance service and John Radcliffe Hospital, and in human terms will be far-reaching and expensive. The proposals are overly influenced by a small group of medical specialists in Oxford who have plans for centralisation that ignore the expressed and documented needs of this community." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Banbury Cake 5 October 2006
        5 Trust sells land to stem loss. Despite overspending its budget by £1.3 million at the end of July, Buckinghamshire Hospitals' NHS Trust has managed to hold onto a small surplus amount of cash by selling off land. Finance director Tom Travers admitted that the only way the trust had achieved this surplus was by selling off some of its holdings at Stoke Mandeville. Travers said the trust had a challenging year ahead. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Bucks Free Press 5 October 2006
    3     Referrals 'put in cupboard'. A referral management centre in Milton Keynes physically locked GPs' letters in a metal cupboard for weeks to deliberately delay patients' treatment. Dr Peter Berkin, a GP and professional executive committee member at Milton Keynes PCT, said the routine referral letters were stored in the cupboard to stop local hospitals doing too many procedures too quickly and overspending. He said the practice was 'a tragedy waiting to happen'. 'Several of us on several occasions have sat and trawled through all the letters looking for dodgy ones,' he said. 'There could be cancer patients sitting in there.' Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Pulse 6 October 2006
          Hospital jobs 'may go to India or United States'. Hospital staff say hundreds of local jobs could be threatened by the outsourcing of secretarial work to foreign workers in India or the United States. Fears that the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust might transfer a hefty slice o