My work for our community:
Bicester Community Hospital
The Save Our Community Hospitals (SOCH) Campaign

I, along with other SOCH campaigners, continue to fight for a new 30-bed NHS community hospital in Bicester to replace the existing Cottage Hospital. that has served Bicester for more than 100 years.

In 2004 the then North-East Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust decided to downgrade the building of the promised new hospital and replace it with a Primary Care Centre without beds. This is not what Bicester people want or deserve and as a result of our long hard fought campaign we have made the Oxfordshire Health Authority rethink its plans.

However, we have done more than just voice our objections. SOCH campaigners have put forward to Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust a solution based on the successful example of Wychavon in Worcestershire — a hospital that overcame similar problems to that of Bicester. As a result, the new Oxfordshire Health Authorities has had to listen and has promised further consultation with Bicester's residents.

However, a critical stage in the consultation has now been reached, and it is imperative that the voice of the Bicester community is heard loud and clear. Please join the campaign by going to the SOCH Poll page on this website and adding your views and your name to the list of people who want our town to have the healthcare facilities it deserves.   

Click here to participate in the SOCH hospital survey

Quote from local press reports:

Councillor Les Sibley, former Town Mayor and Oxfordshire County councilor, is a campaigner against the closure of the Bicester Community Hospital..

Quote: "Community or Cottage Hospitals with in-patient beds provide vital health services and support to patients and residents throughout Oxfordshire and must be kept open in order to relieve the pressures on acute hospitals like the J.R. and the Horton General Banbury. Local hospitals with beds allows patients to return to the community where their own G.P's and medical staff could monitor their progress. I am working hard to ensure that the voice of the Patient is heard first not last."

Click on the photos to see more pictures of our campaign to Save Our Community Hospital.

Our existing community hospital

Staking a claim on the land for the new hospital on the South West Bicester site

The SOCH (Save Our Community Hospital) Petition

The Lobbying Group outside The Garth

Wychavon District Council's new hospital under construction