The new PCT Chief Executive took the floor. "Its all good news" he said. A brand new hospital, 14 beds, a maternity unit, x-ray.......making it seem as if all this has been volunteered to the town by a munificent PCT in a fit of magnanimity. He was our third Chief Executive in a year. Getting to this point has been like pulling teeth as we have extracted small concession after small concession from his predecessors. Compare what is on offer now with what was being offered a year ago. We were an ungrateful lot he seemed to be suggesting. But then he made an unexpected bid for popularity. "This week I visited Chipping Norton Hospital for the first time. I was absolutely appalled by what I saw. The standard of the service the PCT can offer is being totally compromised by the run down building and environment." You could almost sense the resentment that these amazingly insensitive remarks provoked. Who let it get into that state? was the unasked question. The League of Friends has poured money into the hospital over recent years. Half a million pounds some say. The PCT has never been bashful about accepting contributions to help with the upkeep and improvement of the hospital - most recently for an MIU room. No word then about an appalling, run-down environment - fit only for closure. But we have come to recognise this aspect of the PCT's communications approach. They say what suits their case on any particular day. There is nothing consistent. No integrity. They have totally lost the trust of the town. If you want to change the message just change the Chief Executive.

For a short few weeks we built a relationship with the previous Chief Executive - Mike Williams - who seemed to be playing it straight with us. We reached an understanding. He wrote us a letter. It all seemed settled. But now it seems that was just for the election. Now the heavy mob is back in the driving seat. Keith Mitchell - OCC Leader - is turning the screws on the PCT and they have simply rolled over. Spineless. He now seems to be doing the same with the supposedly independent Overview and Scrutiny Committee. They look ready to buckle. There are big constitutional issues at stake here.

For the last year the action groups in the town have been fighting to keep a proper hospital - with properly staffed Intermediate Care beds. As well as an X ray facility, a maternity unit and all other existing services.  The County Council and the Primary Care Trust have devised a plan which is based on a new Care Home  housing the intermediate care beds which would be staffed and managed by the Order of St John - the county's private care home partner. The PCT and the County are under enormous central government pressure to refurbish their facilities by forming partnerships between the NHS, County Social Care departments and private providers. The claim is that this is a more integrated, cost effective and appropriate way of providing for patient needs.

The town is worried that if they support such a scheme they may be saving a care home but losing a real hospital. They are convinced that hospital beds should be physically separate from the Care Home and proper hospital nursing care can only be provided by NHS staff reporting to NHS managers. They are deeply concerned that "privatised"  OSJ-run hospital beds would be staffed by nurses with lower nursing qualifications than at present (who would not for example be able to help in an MIU) because cost savings and market considerations would take priority over clinical need. This would represent a real CUT in the present quality of healthcare in the town.  This view is supported by the nurses themselves and most of our GP's.

The town wants hospital beds which are separate from the Care Home, staffed by the NHS but which can save money by sharing facilities like catering and cleaning. We are convinced that this mix could be provided within what we have been told are present budgets. The PCT have refused to provide costings for our preferred route but instead have put together three other options. Option 3 -Totally independent hospital beds in a totally stand alone building- which would be very expensive. Nobody has asked for this. Option 1 - Beds which are entirely within the Care Home - staffed and managed by the Order of St John. And a new compromise - Option 2 - which is now the PCT's preferred way forward. This "seconds" the nursing staff from the NHS to OSJ. The staff remain employees of the NHS. The nurses work under a Lead Nurse who reports to the OSJ Care Home manager. No guarantees about what happens when staff leave and new staff are recruited.

The town are convinced that this option leaves unresolved the conflict between clinical need and market demands and offers no reassurance for the future.  In locating the beds in the Care Home we will have compromised what we regard as a "real" hospital. We cannot accept the latest proposal - particularly since the PCT have not  prepared proper detailed costings (or a business case) for any of their three options or done us the courtesy of examining our own preferred solution.

We expected some of the Board members to ask some penetrating  questions. After all that is what they are paid for - particularly the non-executives. We expected the Patient Forum representatives to show their teeth. Nothing. There was not a single question challenging  any aspect of the costs of the three options. We expected to see the PCT Board doing what it is supposed to do - ensuring that the needs of our community are fully considered and as far as possible met in their provisioning of healthcare.

Liz Leffman - the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Witney Constituency - wrote to Anita Higham after the meeting......."I am a non-executive board member of two charities. I also run my own business, and have been a senior manager in industry. I have never attended a board meeting, whether in the not-for-profit or the private sector, where so little interest was shown by the non-executive directors in the subject under scrutiny. There was no financial information to back your preferred option. There has been no consultation with the Hospital staff. Much of the content of letter written by Mike Williams following the meeting with the OJHOSC on June 9^th was ignored. In spite of this, the non-executive directors let it go on the nod. No-one asked to see a proper business case for option 2. No-one questioned the lack of real, hard information about how option 3 estimated costs were constructed. No-one asked why the staff had not been properly consulted, in spite of the fact that you are proposing a change in their employment contracts. Perhaps the full financial information was presented by the chief executive to the board at a separate meeting. In which case, why not make it available to the people of Chipping Norton? On the other hand, if it has not, then the board is failing in its remit."

The PCT think they have taken a decision. They must  convince the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee. We are relying on that committee now to be genuinely independent and act as our watchdog. They are all we have - short of a judicial review. It was good to see so many District Councillors present today - including the cabinet Member for Health Ian Hudspeth. We are banking on him and the tireless Hilary Biles to persuade Barry Norton to go into battle again on our behalf.

Today's meeting was a complete disgrace. It is up to whichever of our elected representatives  have any principles left to try and restore some of our faith in local democracy. It is a waste of time dealing any longer with unelected bureaucrats. The people of this town and the area around have a right for their voice to be heard.

There will be another Town Meeting in the Church on September 7th - a year on from the last one. An opportunity for everyone in the town to have a say.  You may like to book that date in your diary now. We're not giving up!