A HOSPITAL dogged by staff shortages is hoping to get training status in a bid to lure doctors to take up posts there.

One of the major problems faced by Banbury’s Horton Hospital in the past has been recruiting staff, particulary paediatricians — but that could all change.

For the past 18 months, the Better Healthcare Programme, set up to retain and develop services at the Horton, has been working to keep threatened services, including maternity, emergency and children’s services.

One of its biggest stumbling blocks has been attracting middle-ranking doctors. At the moment, staff are mainly locums or doctors recruited from overseas.

Now the hospital is hoping to get training accreditation and is expecting the NHS Deanery, which is responsible for postgraduate medical training, to visit and give advice.

Susan Brown, spokesman for the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “One of the main problems the Horton has had is recruiting staff because the posts were not recognised as training positions.

“We have asked the Deanery to come and look at the Horton and give recommendations to change processes and make it easier to recruit.”

There was further good news this week when the Better Healthcare Programme panel recommended vital services — maternity, paediatrics, general surgery and trauma – should stay at the Horton.

The panel must now plan how to deliver those services within budget.

Alan Webb, director of service redesign at Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust, said: “This marks an important stage in the development of proposals for retaining and developing services at the Horton General Hospital in Banbury.

“But we are not at the end of the journey yet, and there remains a great deal of hard work ahead to ensure the long-term sustainability of services at the hospital.”

Andrew Stevens, director of planning and information at the ORH, said: “The next steps are to see how workable some of these solutions are at the Horton.”

Hospital campaigner George Parish said: “What they are saying is the ORH wants to deliver 24/7 services for paediatric ward and maternity, which is a good statement.

“There is a hell of a lot of work going on. Every time there is a meeting I am there to keep an eye on what’s going on.”

Next month, Oxfordshire PCT will decide whether to back the proposals, while in January the ORH is likely to make its final decision over the future of services at the hospital.

Several years ago, ORH threatened to downgrade the Horton’s services, but a local campaign forced a U-turn.