THOUSANDS of women and their partners are being invited to share their experience of using maternity services in Oxfordshire as health chiefs continue to consider the future of services the Horton Hospital..

The feedback will help Oxfordshire CLinical Commissioning Group (CCG) understand what is important to patients and how changes made at the Horton Hospital in Banbury have affected them.

The obstetric unit at the hospital was closed on safety grounds in October 2016 because of long term difficulties in recruiting suitably qualified doctors with the hospital now offering only a midwifery-led unit.

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However in 2018, then Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt ordered the decision to be revisited after a review found the public consultation had 'fallen short'.

Catherine Mountford, director of governance at OCCG, said: "We urge all women who have given birth since October 2016 to look out for their invitation letter coming through the post and once it arrives I encourage them to take part and complete the survey with as much information as possible.

"The debate around the future of maternity services in Banbury has been going on for some time. People have strong feelings about the closure of the Horton obstetrics unit and its impact on families in the north of the county and beyond."