A bid by Oxford’s main hospitals to form a ground-breaking academic super trust with Oxford University has been rejected by the Government.

Health officials and medical academics were hoping to launch a new era in healthcare by becoming one of Britain’s first academic health science centres.

But Health Secretary Alan Johnson has announced that Oxford will not be one of the five “world-class” new centres, certain to attract extra money for medical research.

Oxford had been tipped to become one of the centres, holding out the promise of improvements in treatment and an influx of top doctors.

But Cambridge, not Oxford, has made it on to the list of successful applicants.

The other successful bids were from Manchester and three from London, led by Imperial College, King’s College and University College.

The Oxford bid was submitted by an alliance of health professionals and academics from the university, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust and the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, with Oxford Brookes University and Oxfordshire NHS Primary Care Trust also involved.

A joint statement said: “It is disappointing for our patients and for the whole of the Oxfordshire community that we have not been designated as an Academic Health Science Centre at this time.

“Our organisations will continue to work closely in partnership, and with our academic and NHS colleagues in the wider healthcare system, to bring together our excellence in clinical services, teaching and research.”

A panel of international experts, appointed by the Government to make the decision, also rejected a bid from Birmingham University and five NHS trusts from the city.

Trevor Campbell Davis, the chief executive of Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, said he was encouraged that Oxford had been invited to apply again. He said: “The partners will be discussing this in the near future.

“While it’s disappointing that our proposals weren’t accepted by the Department of Health in their current form, we’re encouraged by the feedback we received, which will help us to amend and improve our future proposals.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “The NHS-university partnership in Oxford is a world-leading centre of biomedical research, but wasn’t able to demonstrate to the panel that it met the wider range of criteria necessary for designation as an Academic Health Science Centre.”

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