Oxfordshire: Protesters march in support of NHS

Four hundred people gathered in Oxford's Hinksey Park to protest against cuts and privatisation in the NHS - reports the Oxford Times.

They marched on Saturday from the park in Abingdon Road, up St Aldates and finished in Broad Street where Jim Campbell, the Mayor of Oxford, was one of the speakers.

Earlier this year, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust announced plans to cut 600 jobs and downgrade the Horton Hospital in Banbury as part of a £33m savings plan.

Joseph Richards, 75, from Blackbird Leys, has had to use the NHS regularly over recent years due to heart problems.

He said: "I am here because I am an old-age pensioner and we use the hospitals more than anyone else."

There are also concerns about some sectors of the NHS being neglected.

Dr Beth Rimmer, a GP in East Oxford, was on the march as a mother as well as a front-line worker.

She said: "I am here to raise public awareness about the frightening changes that are happening in the NHS. There are already things that are hard to get in Oxford like dietary and dentistry help.

"I am also worried about vulnerable people - those less able to put their point across and those who most lose out over privatisation. The choices will be made for us."

Banbury: Plea for anti-flood cash fails

A flood-prevention scheme for Banbury has failed to secure vital Government funding, preventing the project from going ahead - reports the Banbury Cake.

Since 1998, when the town last flooded, the Environment Agency has been working on a scheme to protect against a repeat occurance.

But the main part of the scheme, set to cost £12m, depended on support from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to go ahead.

Facing competition from flood-prevention schemes around the country, Banbury's bid for funding has not been successful.

Richard Harding, the Environment Agency's project manager for the scheme, said: "We are aware this will disappoint people hoping for the protection a scheme like this would have provided.

"We believed this was a perfectly viable scheme."

Oxford: NHS cutbacks hit social care

Oxfordshire's social services are creaking at the seams because of the NHS funding crisis, councillors claim - reports the Oxford Mail.

County councillors are set to complain to the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust that changes to its services are putting the social care department under extreme pressure.

On Tuesday, members of the council's cabinet called for a halt to cuts in community-based NHS services. The knock-on effect has forced the council to spend £250,000 more on social care at this stage of the financial year than projected.

This figure looks set to more than double by the end of March next year, as NHS cuts cause demand for council-run services to grow.

At the cabinet meeting, councillors were told that:

- a joint primary care trust and council budget used to buy care home beds for the elderly was £300,000 overspent by the end of May and planned expenditure for September was now being used;

- an NHS fund to pay for long-term care beds was not increased in line with inflation this year, putting more pressure on the same budget

- the ORH is reducing the average length of time people spend in hospital, leading to increased demand for social care beds;

- some 31 beds in the Radcliffe Infirmary have been closed this year and while PCTs are paying for alternative beds this financial year, there is no commitment for payment to continue next year.

With this news, can Oxford's MPs in all conscience vote billions of pounds extra per year away to the EU - completely without justification - while local services clearly need more cash to provide necessary care? What would such irresponsible choices with scarce public money communicate to local voters about the real interest of their MPs in ensuring decent local health and social care services?