Family doctors have branded cutbacks to children's and maternity services at the Horton Hospital in Banbury as unsafe and inhumane.

In a report, the doctors have questioned whether Oxford-based clinicians have a genuine commitment to children's health in the Banbury area.

And they have accused the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust of being intransigent in negotiations and of countering safety concerns with solutions that are oversimplified and impractical.

The doctors say they have little confidence in the consultation process and the spirit in which it has been conducted.

The North Oxfordshire and South Northants GP Forum made the claims in its response to plans by the trust to end the Horton's 24-hour children's in-patient and emergency services, reduce maternity and obstetrics cover, and close the special care baby unit. Children needing overnight care or emergency out-of-hours treatment would have to go to the John Radcliffe Hospital.

At a series of public meetings, the ORH trust has claimed its proposals would provide safer healthcare, but the GPs say: "These proposals are unsafe."

In a statement they added: "Local services for children are the key issue around which many other services hinge. They have a significant impact on the viability of other hospital departments, especially maternity and accident and emergency.

"It is evident that paediatric emergencies such as meningitis, septicaemia, respiratory distress, and serious poisoning may all incur dangerous delay in receiving appropriate care if the nearest paediatric department is an hour away."

On maternity services, the GPs say mothers who needed unexpected medical care during birth would have to be hurriedly transferred to the JR.

They say: "This would carry significant risk and would be inhumane."

The doctors sum up by saying: "The ORH trust proposals will result in services that are unsafe and unsustainable, and not in the best interests of patients.

"They will increase demands on an already overstretched ambulance service and John Radcliffe Hospital, and in human terms will be far-reaching and expensive.

"The proposals are overly influenced by a small group of medical specialists in Oxford who have plans for centralisation that ignore the expressed and documented needs of this community."

The trust said it hoped to discuss the GPs' concerns in detail at future meetings. A spokesman said it considered its proposals "the best way to ensure that services at the Horton are safe and sustainable in the long term".