IT IS disappointing that your article about the Horton General Hospital states that the delay to consultation is because we wish to define our ‘spending priorities’.

This is not the case. Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (OCCG), which is led by local GPs, became a statutory body on April 1.

As a new, clinically-led organisation with responsibility for commissioning health services for local people, we believe it is important that we take a short amount of time to consider at a strategic level how we wish services to be provided both in the community, in hospital and at home.

Our focus will be on how we can ensure high quality, safe and sustainable services with better outcomes for all of our patients in Oxfordshire. We will work closely with GPs, patient groups and with organisations providing health services as we develop our thinking.

Once we have an agreed Commissioning Strategy for Oxfordshire, we will be in a better position to consider the range of services which should be provided at the Horton General Hospital.

We will then work jointly with the Oxford University Hospitals to manage public consultation on any changes.

Finally, as clinical leaders, patient safety must be paramount. For this reason we support the continued suspension of emergency abdominal surgery at the Horton General Hospital while we carry out this strategy.

DR MARY KEENAN, Medical Director, Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, Oxford Business Park South