Trevor Campbell Davis, chief executive of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust, agreed accessibility had been a big problem after the Independent Reconfigura-tion Panel announced it would not be endorsing his proposals to transfer services to Oxford.

During a press conference at the Horton last Thursday, Mr Campbell Davis appeared to admit fault when quizzed by the media over his proposals, and it was suggested to him that the IRP report was a clear 'indictment' that he was wrong.

When asked if he accepted he was wrong and felt disappointed by the news, Mr Campbell Davis said: "Yes, yes I do...
"It (the trust's downgrading plan] is not in the best interests of patients in two respects. The first is it does not provide a sufficiently accessible service and secondly, it does not provide an improved service."

But he added: "It (the IRP report] does not say anywhere that the proposals would have been unsafe."

The proposals to cut key services – consultant-led maternity, gynaecology and 24-hour paediatrics – at the Horton were rejected by the IRP during a review of the hospital and its findings accepted by Health Secretary Alan Johnson.

The decision ended years of uncertainty for staff and users of the Horton Hospital, and Mr Campbell Davis said he had varied feelings about the final outcome, although "couldn't have been prouder" of the staff's reaction.

He said: "I always have mixed emotions about issues like this. The people who work at the Horton have lived with uncertainty for a very long time and this provides them with a safer place.

"In one really important regard it lets them know that their view and the views of the local community are really understood at the highest level in Government and by bodies looking at those things and that gives me pleasure. I'm disappointed that they have had to live with this uncertainty for so long."

Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust will now have to carry out a review of services at the Horton, as part of recommendations by the IRP to make improved changes for the future. The report, stated the Horton Hospital "had an important role for the future in providing local hospital based care to the people in the north of Oxfordshire and surrounding areas."

Mr Campbell Davis said although the IRP's report secured the future of the Horton, changes would have to be made in line with the recommendations.

He said: "I can't give an assurance that there will be no changes to services at the Horton because to do so would keep it in the past.

"What we can say is that this secures the importance of the local voice in deciding how these services, maternity or paediatrics, are delivered in the future and it is giving back to the PCT responsibility for coming back with proposals which fully recognise that local voice and that is the bit which I think we haven't done well in the past."
Finally, Mr Campbell Davis praised those who had worked tirelessly to fight for the future of services at the Horton.

He said: "People have spoken very loudly, very clearly and the panel has heard that.

"I wish George (Parish, the campaign leader] and all of his colleagues well. They have done a great job."