FIFTY thousand Oxfordshire people have now joined forces in a bid to prevent cuts to the county's health service.

In a two-pronged attack, 30,000 people signed a petition to save the county's community hospitals, while a further 17,000 signed a petition protesting against cuts proposed by the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust.

An additional 3,000-name online petition also condemned the trust's proposals to cut 600 jobs in a bid to reduce a £33m deficit.

The petitions demanded an end to the "blatant discrimination" in NHS funding which left Oxfordshire with the lowest amount of money for treatment per patient in England and threatened jobs, community care, mental care and operations.

Last Thursday, with their mayoral chains glinting in the sunshine, the people's representatives voiced their concerns about the future of the county's health services despite record investment by the Government.

John Harper, chairman of Cherwell District Council, said: "Eight-and-a-half years ago the Horton General Hospital saved my life. I was dead and they revived me.

"I've come back from the dead to hound Tony Blair and stand up for the people of Banbury and Oxfordshire."

Dr Ajit Singh Bhart, mayor of Bicester, said Government promises made about a new hospital for Bicester had been broken.

Witney mayor Chrissie Curry said: "Moorview Hospital closed this week despite a huge petition and lobbying. We just want fair funding for Oxfordshire."

Banbury mayor John Donaldson said: "The proposals they are making do not seem to have any logic. Banbury is expanding but they are reducing services at the Horton Hospital."

Wantage MP Ed Vaizey said the Government had a "clear agenda" to close community hospitals in Wallingford, Wantage and Didcot.

Witney MP David Cameron, Banbury MP Tony Baldry, Wantage MP Ed Vaizey and Daventry MP Tim Boswell presented the petition to the Commons, while the chairmen of Oxfordshire's district councils and mayors of Oxfordshire, and Mr Baldry and Mr Vaizey, presented the online petition to 10 Downing Street.

The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust has announced plans to cut 600 jobs, including 225 from nursing and midwifery, in a bid to reduce the £33m deficit, but no final decision has yet been made on precisely where the axe will fall.

Banbury MP Tony Baldry said: "Thousands of Oxfordshire residents have spoken out against NHS cuts in the county.

"There is a real depth of concern that job losses will lead, through no fault of the staff, to a real downgrading in services."

Andrew Smith, the Labour MP for Oxford East, and himself a former member of the Cabinet, was not involved in the presentations.

He said: "I have spoken in the strongest terms to ministers, privately as well as publicly, in support of local services and NHS staff, including calling for a review of funding."

Sophie Coppel, a spokesman for the Department of Health, said the petitions would be referred to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt.