SENIOR health figures have launched a scathing attack on 'useless' plans to shake up health services in Oxfordshire and said they need to be taken back to the drawing board.

Criticism has erupted over Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group's (CCG) phase one of the Oxfordshire Transformation Plan, which will see a downgrading of services at the Horton Hospital in Banbury and a reduction of nearly 200 beads across the county.

The CCG has introduced the plans as a way of streamlining services to address a growing financial shortfall and the needs of an ageing population.

But a recent 12-week consultation on the changes has been branded 'dishonest' while there are also fears thousands of residents will be left without adequate cover in years to come with more work falling to under-pressure nurses and doctors.

Retired GP and chairman of Oxfordshire Local Medical Committee Dr Prit Buttar said he was appalled the CCG had not carried out any assessment of its resources before devising the plan.

He said: "If you are an army general and you are going to invade France you are not going to do it with just eight men.

"There has been no evidence that the CCG has looked at the resources and the workforce it currently has and then used that information to determine a plan and a way forward.

"I have not seen a single document which shows the impact these plans will have on GPs workload and community nurses and these are the people that are going to be expected to deliver this plan.

"Without that key information on what is possible and do-able with the resources, well its just a completely useless and unsustainable plan."

He also reiterated residents' concerns brought up in last week's CCG board meeting and also by Oxfordshire County Councillors that the consultation itself was flawed.

He added: "The CCG needs to be honest and upfront with patients and tell them that this is about cuts.

"In the consultation they needed to ask patients what services they would want to keep going and which ones they could potentially live without.

"At the end of the day this is going to be a poorer system than the one we already have and we need to tell people, rather than lying to them by saying it is going to be better.

"I think we need to start again."

Newly appointed chairman of Healthwatch Oxfordshire George Smith has also warned the county needs to prepare for a growing population, rather than focusing on short term cuts.

He said: "There are many planning documents which are predicting a 27 per cent growth in the population by 2031, with 185,000 more people coming to the county.

"If we were expecting guests we would make up the beds, put fresh towels out, stock up the larder and maybe do a bit of baking.

"Instead we are selling off the beds, taking the towels to the charity shops and emptying the larder.

"In the short term we maybe shutting facilities, to only reopen them in the longer term and I fear we will be spending two lots of money to only get back to where we started. We need to have a clear vision."

Stephen Parkinson from the Oxfordshire health branch of Unison, which represents many health workers in Oxfordshire, said the consultation had been a ‘shambles.’

He added: “It is an absolute disgrace that the CCG is not looking at getting more workforce.

“This plan should be abolished, it needs completely rethinking.”

CCG board members spent time last week scrutinising the public's concerns over the future of maternity at the Horton General Hospital, bed closures, the consultation process and the division of the plans in two phases.

Its chairman Dr Joe McManners said they were committed to seeking further clarification and assurances on aspects of the proposals before a decision will be made on August 10.

He added: "For me the consultation process is about trying to get the safest options.

"It is about lessening people’s concerns and for us to respond as much as possible and try to answer questions and fill in the gaps.

"And to make sure that whatever decision is taken, it has been thought through as much as possible.

"We have got really great services that can provide capacity at home as well as safe as possible service for the whole community."

In a bid to get some more assurances and answers on the plans and key reports still to come, which assess its impact, dissatisfied HOSC members called for an additional public meeting ahead of the big decision in August.

Chief executive of the CCG David Smith said it would be ‘happy’ to comply adding: "We have not made a decision on the plans as it will be made on August 10.

"We have said we will look again at some of the issues raised from the consultation and we will look at issues you have raised."