I would like to reassure your readers in the wake of press reports that the War Memorial Hospital at Chipping Norton is closing.

The War Memorial building will remain open until its facilities have been transferred to the new hospital to be built alongside a new care home at Castle View. It is a travesty to say the people of Chipping Norton have been treated shabbily.

The new arrangements ensure that NHS facilities will be maintained in the town at a time when other towns are losing or are at risk of losing their community hospitals.

With regard to the employment of the staff manning the 14 intermediate care beds seconded to the Order of St John, the Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee has written to the chief executive of the North Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust Partnership asking him to confirm his statement at a recent meeting that these staff will remain with the NHS for the foreseeable future. Peter Skolar (Councillor), Chairman Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview

and Scrutiny Committee