TWENTY-NINE staff at hospitals across Oxfordshire have been made redundant so far this year as managers try to reduce a £33m deficit.

Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust said earlier this year that 500 staff could lose their jobs, with 200 going by the end of 2006. But the final total of staff cuts could be much less than the original estimate.

The proposed cutbacks include major restructuring at the Horton Hospital, Banbury, including plans to reduce children's and maternity care, and the closure of the special care baby unit. Also under threat at the Horton are emergency operations, gynaecology services and some lab testing.

Earlier this month, more than 1,000 protesters joined hands around the Horton site to protest against the proposals.

A consultation period on the Horton plans has been extended until October 15, following the intervention of the Oxfordshire health overview and scrutiny committee, which met on Thursday to discuss developments regarding staff reductions.

Helen Peggs, a spokesman for Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, said the 29 staff worked in a variety of roles, but the majority were "administrative and managerial".

She added that other staff jobs could still be "at risk" and said: "The proposal outlined earlier this year was to take away 500 posts, but some of them are vacant posts, and some filled by agency staff."

On October 26, trust managers will meet to discuss the public response to the Horton Hospital changes.

Dr Peter Skolar, chairman of the health overview and scrutiny committee, said a working party from the committee met privately on Monday to discuss the latest cuts.

Mark Ladbrooke, health spokesman for Oxfordshire's public service union Unison, said the union was working with the trust to try to find staff new jobs.

But he added: "There is still real concern about the method of handling this in terms of minimising redundancies. It transfers the problem - you still have service cuts because you are cutting capacity.

"For the newly trained, it is very difficult for them to get jobs in the NHS because of the redeployment of former staff from elsewhere in the system."

Dr Helen Groom, of the Keep Our NHS Public organisation, which is fighting the cuts, said: "It is death by lots of little cuts. There are no ward closures or closures of whole departments but redundancies are taking place, or there are empty posts which are being filled.

"The total number of staff that could be made redundant appears to change quite regularly and there is no definitive list of where staff cuts could be made. It is worrying for staff and concerning for the public."=