OXFORDSHIRE’S main health watchdog has demanded that detailed draft plans on the future of the Horton General Hospital be made public.

Proposals to move some maternity, acute and stroke services away from the Banbury hospital, while increasing its outpatient capacity, are being tabled as part of a county-wide consultation on the NHS.

Only the first half of the plans have so far been made public ahead of phase two in summer.

Healthwatch Oxfordshire has said that if authorities do not publish full plans for the Horton the current consultation should be put on ice.

Executive director Rosalind Pierce said: “We do not believe you can have a meaningful consultation on proposed changes in Banbury until the detail is known, so that people can consider all of the options available.

“Those who use the Banbury hospital feel strongly that the proposals published so far are too generalised.”

The comments were directed at Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, which drew up the plans, and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospitals.

OCCG has also spearheaded the creation of a sustainability and transformation plan (STP) covering Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire West, which aims to streamline the local NHS and save more than £400m by 2020.

OCCG spokeswoman Sue Boyce said: “We are progressing with the public consultation and encouraging people to share their views by writing to us, completing the survey or attending one of the public meetings.”

A ‘strategic review’ of the Horton is available online as part of the consultation documents. Visit tinyurl.com/gkvjntd