IT IS good to see new commitments to improve the services and treatments at Banbury’s Horton Hospital.

For many years heath chiefs planned to diminish what was on offer under a plan that drew huge public outrage.

The campaign to save services cannot be praised highly enough – it was that relentless drive that was eventually victorious when the children’s services were eventually saved.

The hospital has a huge reach and serves many communities. It is of countywide importance.

So it is good that in 2010 we see Sir Jonathan Michael, chairman of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust, stating very clearly he wants to see a dialysis centre created, along with an expansion in specialities offered in clinics and procedures that do not need overnight stays.

Of course the Horton cannot be all things to all patients, but there is a genuine commitment to improve it rather than let it stand still (or even wither as the previous plans would have seen).

A dialysis centre will mean a lot to people like the Berrys, who have waged their own public campaign for better services at the Horton.

Once again it shows that if you are prepared to fight for what you believe, you can change and improve your community.