Two recent cases on hospital closures suggest that public bodies may have to provide more detailed justification for their decisions, explains Michael Imperato
Hospital closures usually attract public opposition fuelled by emotion. Inevitably some have prompted legal challenges, usually in a form of a judicial review targeting the fairness of the consultation. Two recent decisions illustrate some common issues and the approach of the courts.
The case of Cherwell District Council v Oxfordshire CCG involved a legal challenge to a consultationby a number of district councils to ‘The Big Consultation’, a consultation carried out by Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) on proposed changes to services at Horton General Hospital in Banbury.
The consultation was launched on 16 January 2017 and sought views on proposed changes to services. It wa...
