A new report has certainly touched a highly sensitive spot for Oxford’s main hospital trust.

Asked to endorse Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust’s application to become a foundation trust, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet backed the move.

But the opportunity to wag a finger at the giant health trust was not wasted.

For almost as long as Oxford has had a teaching hospital, there have been suspicions that too much attention is focused at the glamorous end of clinical care, with consultants busily pursuing specialist areas of research at the expense of routine hospital work.

The change of the trust’s name last year, to confirm its links with Oxford University hardly swept away such thoughts. But the trust will have been unsettled to see the directors of public health and social services so boldly spelling out “this widespread concern”.

It can certainly be difficult to understand how a £138m new cancer centre is being proposed at a time when vast savings are having to be found at your local hospital. But it would be wrong to imagine that this is a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul, for the funding simply does not come from the same pot. It would also be pity if Oxfordshire patients lost sight of the benefits of having world-class facilities such as the heart centre, cancer centre and the NOC on our doorstep, along with the leading consultants these facilities attract.

The trust, for sure, needs to grapple with issues such as caring for the elderly and improving standards on wards. But the university’s ability to attract millions for projects such as a new cancer research at the Churchill will hardly make matters worse on the wards at the John Radcliffe.

If foundation status, as we are told, will give the trust freedom to respond to local concerns, perhaps this unhealthy “traditional care v groundbreaking specialist work” issue can be laid to rest, while the county council and trust focus on getting more patients cared for at home.