CAMPAIGNERS staged a mocked-up ambulance trip to highlight the risks facing patients who are transferred from Banbury to Oxford.

The ambulance stunt, organised by the Save the Horton action group - which is fighting plans to downgrade maternity and children's services at the hospital - saw a St John ambulance do a 'dummy run' between the Horton Hospital and the John Radcliffe Hospital.

It was an attempt to show that an ambulance would take longer than the Trust's stated time of 25 minutes to transfer a patient from the Horton to the JR.

But the vehicle was unable to use blue lights and sirens because it was not on an emergency call.

It arrived at the JR one hour and five minutes after leaving the Horton - with the driver having to estimate the time it would have taken if the run had been for real, with sirens and flashing lights.

He calculated the journey would have taken 40 minutes.

But the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust said in a statement it had been told by the ambulance service that the journey time was 25 to 40 minutes, and had used those figures when developing the proposals.

Helen Peggs, the Trust's director of communications, said: "I'm not sure what point the campaigners were making."

The statement said: "The proposals were developed by doctors, nurses, and other clinicians, using figures supplied by South Central Ambulance Service.

"The Ambulance Service estimates that a time of 25 to 40 minutes is typical for a 'blue light' emergency journey between the Horton General and the JR.

"Seriously ill children and adults are already transferred by ambulance from the Horton to the JR for emergency specialist treatment, so there is considerable experience in making this journey.

"The figures used by the Ambulance Service were not plucked out of the air, or based on a single journey, but calculated from data recording actual journeys made over a period of time by an experienced professional driver in a 'blue light' vehicle.

"They also took into account the skills of midwives and paramedics who would be available during any emergency journey, and the time it could take to transfer patients safely into or out of the ambulance.

"The proposals include provision for additional ambulance cover, which would be paid for by the Trust. The Ambulance Service also agreed that it would treat patients needing a transfer from the Horton to the JR as category A patients, and that they would respond in eight minutes."

The proposals are being considered by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel, which will examine all the evidence.

The panel will advise Health Secretary Alan Johnson on whether to go ahead.

George Parish, chairman of the Keep the Horton General Campaign, said the stunt had made an important point.

He said: "The ambulance was driven by a professional from St John Ambulance and he said it took an hour and five minutes. He said if he had had a blue light on it would still have taken 40 minutes.

"But ambulances will not just be going from the Horton."

He said longer journeys increased the risk to patients.