WITNEY MP Robert Courts has lambasted the repeated mishandling of health services in Oxfordshire in a Parliamentary debate.
Mr Courts slammed the sudden closure of Witney's Deer Park Medical Centre, the proposed changes to the Horton General Hospital in Banbury and the controversial Sustainability Transformation Plan consultation which is aiming to redraw health services across the county.
He was joined for the debate at Westminster Hall this morning by Wantage MP Ed Vaizey, Banbury MP Victoria Prentis, Oxford West and Abingdon MP Layla Moran and Henley MP John Howell.
In his opening speech, Mr Courts began: "This is a topic that perhaps matters more to our constituents than any other."
He went on to criticise Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group for a lack of public consultation in general, but said it was 'most marked' in the case of Deer Park Surgey, which closed suddenly in March this year.
He said: "There wasn't any meaningful consultation with the people of Witney before [it closed].
"The patients were simply told that this was happening. The need for that practice is not only present now but will be present into the future."
Mr Courts, who was elected to David Cameron's former seat just under a year ago, said he would like to review the entire STP process to find out how the CCG could work better with the public.
He said: "The CCG have to improve on how they handle local healthcare, and I will work hard to ensure that they learn lessons from the closure of Deer Park."
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