UP to 400 people gathered in Oxford's Hinksey Park to protest against cuts and privatisation in the NHS.

They marched on Saturday from the park in Abingdon Road, up St Aldates and finished in Broad Street where Jim Campbell, the Mayor of Oxford, was one of the speakers.

Earlier this year, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust announced plans to cut 600 jobs and downgrade the Horton Hospital in Banbury as part of a £33m savings plan. The period for public consultation over proposed changes at the Horton ended on Friday.

Dr Helen Groom, GP and secretary of Keep Our NHS Public Oxfordshire, said: "Whether it is for a cold or you have a major accident like Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond, the NHS is there whenever you need it.

"We are worried that this government is selling off the easy and profitable bits to big private companies and the NHS would be left to deal with people with difficult and complicated problems.

"In the future ordinary people may have to pay for services they now take for granted."

Joseph Richards, 75, from Blackbird Leys, has had to use the NHS regularly over recent years due to heart problems.

He said: "I am here because I am an old-age pensioner and we use the hospitals more than anyone else."

He highlighted a series of hospital services which are already privatised.

"You have to pay for the TV, telephone calls and parking - and so do nurses. Never have I come across an organistion where the workers have to pay parking."

There are also concerns about some sectors of the NHS being neglected.

Dr John Lister, the information director of London Health Emergency, who has been working with the Keep our NHS public campaign said: "Money is being taken out of front-line services and then put into shareholders' pockets."

Dr Beth Rimmer, a GP in East Oxford, was on the march as a mother as well as a front-line worker.

She said: "I am here to raise public awareness about the frightening changes that are happening in the NHS. There are already things that are hard to get in Oxford like dietary and dentistry help.

"I am also worried about vulnerable people - those less able to put their point across and those who most lose out over privatisation. The choices will be made for us."