13th October

Longstanding healthcare campaigner, Larry Sanders, Leader of the Green group on the County Council, resigned as a non-Executive Director of the Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare NHS Trust today. His resignation will allow him to speak out freely and openly campaign against the savage cuts that the NHS Trust is facing.

Cllr Sanders said:

The cuts in service which have been proposed for the Trust will cost lives and suffering. The closure of the Barnes Unit which helps people who have attempted to kill themselves will have obvious consequences. The closure of Moorview Hospital in Witney and four Day Hospitals around the County which serve Older People with dementias and severe depression will be catastrophic for these people and their families.

I have been told categorically by the Chair of the Thames Valley Strategic Health Authority that non-Executives cannot speak publicly about the work of their Trusts. There is no way that I can stay silent in the face of these outrages.

The Green Party is pledged to defend vulnerable people, the NHS and the right to local decisions and local facilities. These cuts hit the most vulnerable, the silence of NHS Trusts damage their credibility and the unremitting drive to centralise all Mental Health services in Oxford is a deadful mistake. We will do everything in our power to bring information to the public and to oppose these losses.

Larry Sanders: larry@greenoxford.com