I would like to register my protest at the proposed cut in services at the Horton Hospital at Banbury.

I am somewhat fortunate in that I live at Bicester and therefore am almost equidistant from the John Radcliffe and the Horton and therefore receive service from both hospitals.

Bicester and Banbury, plus the surrounding villages and towns, are growing.

We are on the M40 corridor and as a result, Oxfordshire is a popular county in which to live.

The John Radcliffe invariably has waiting lists which seem to stretch into infinity and to attend A&E involves a wait of gigantic proportions as the excellent staff seek to cope with the number of patients.

The closure of the Horton's facilities in any way will only add to this malaise.

The purpose of a hospital, which seems to have been forgotten by the Labour Party, is to cure the sick and tend the injured. Delay often involves extra suffering by the patient.

The Horton is doing a first-class job and should be kept open with all facilities available.

The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS trust should look beyond its current debt, not all of which is of its own making, and keep the Horton on full service.

The people of Oxfordshire and the local media have demonstrated recently their wholehearted support by the donations that flooded in for the new Oxford Children's Hospital.

Don't betray them - repay that support.

Keep the Horton open as a fully operational hospital.

CHRIS PAYNE George Street Bicester