LOCAL MP CRITICISES PLAN TO SNEAK OUT HORTON DECISION - Tony Baldry MP says Ministers should be made accountable for decision on future of hospital

North Oxfordshire MP, Tony Baldry, has strongly criticised the Government's decision to announce its plans for the future of the Horton General Hospital the day before the long Bank Holiday weekend.

The report by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel, and the decision by the Secretary of State for Health, on the future of maternity services at the Horton, will be published this Thursday before the four day Easter holiday.  Ministers have also avoided announcing their decision to Parliament at health questions on Tuesday, two days earlier.

Tony Baldry will seek to raise this matter at parliamentary health questions tomorrow.

Tony Baldry MP said:

"This is a further demonstration of the Government's contempt for local people who are simply worried about the future of their hospital.  The Horton is an incredibly emotive issue and the campaign to save services has now been running for almost two years.  To snub local people by burying their the announcement on the future of services at the start of the long Easter break, is tantamount to putting two fingers up to local peoples' concerns."