OBJECTIONS to plans to downgrade services at Banbury's Horton Hospital are to be independently analysed, says the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust.

The trust wants to close the Horton's special care baby unit, end 24-hour children services, reduce maternity and obstetric cover, and move in-patient gynaecology care to Oxford.

In a statement this week, the trust said it would not make any decisions until a thorough analysis of the consultation responses had been completed and considered. More than 4,000 objections to the plans were submitted before the consultation deadline on October 13.