Women’s hospital services in Liverpool

The NHS is looking at hospital gynaecology and maternity services in Liverpool.

Most of these services happen at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, on Crown Street in Toxteth, which means they are separate from other hospital services, and this can sometimes create issues and delays with care.

The NHS is committed to finding a long-term solution that will improve the quality and safety of hospital gynaecology and maternity services, giving patients the best experience, wherever they are being treated.

If you would like to be kept informed with how this programme progresses, you can join the Virtual Reference Group to receive email updates when new information is made available.

Progress during 2025

In March 2025, the Women’s Services Committee received a report into the autumn 2024 public engagement and approved an options process for the programme. The Board of NHS Cheshire and Merseyside also received the public engagement report, which you can read here.

An options process took place during spring/summer 2025. This involved local doctors, nurses and midwives, those with lived experience of gynaecology and maternity services (members of the programme’s Lived Experience Panel), and other partners, coming together in workshops to develop potential options for how services could look in the future.

Coming up

At its meeting on 29 January 2026, the Board of NHS Cheshire and Merseyside will look at the findings of a process to develop potential options for the future of hospital gynaecology and maternity services in Liverpool.

The Board will be asked to confirm support to progress a proposal for a range of service improvements to improve safety in the medium term, including increasing resources at Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Crown Street. It would also involve a number of very high-risk births and complex gynaecology operations taking place at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, rather than Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

Subject to the Board’s agreement, a full business case for this proposal will be developed, and public engagement would take place ahead of a final decision being made.

Most gynaecology and maternity services in Liverpool happen at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, which means they are separate from other hospital services, creating issues and delays with care. NHS Cheshire and Merseyside set up the Women’s Hospital Services in Liverpool programme to find a long-term solution to improve quality and safety, giving patients the best experience, wherever they are being treated.

A case for change about these services was published during autumn 2024, at which point a six-week public engagement on improving hospital gynaecology and maternity services in Liverpool was launched. Then, during summer 2025, an options development and appraisal process took place, involving staff who work in these services, and those with lived experience as patients, carers, or family members.

This process – described in detail in the papers being presented to NHS Cheshire and Merseyside’s Board – concluded that the only options which would resolve the clinical risks for the vast majority of women would involve co-locating inpatient gynaecology and maternity services alongside other adult acute hospital services. However, these options would also have significant financial implications. Therefore, the option to treat a small number of the most complex and high-risk cases at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital is seen as the only one that is likely to be deliverable in the medium term.

The Board will therefore be asked for support to progress this plan – subject to public engagement and final decision-making – while also committing to resolving the long-term sustainability of women’s services in Liverpool, which would include engaging with NHS England about potential solutions to address this. No final decisions about services will be made at the meeting on 29 January – the discussion will focus on next steps.

Board meeting papers, including for the item on Women’s Hospital Services in Liverpool, will be published on our website here.

For more information about the programme, visit www.gynaeandmaternityliverpool.nhs.uk.

Past briefings

Women’s Services Committee Chair Professor Hilary Garrett CBE provides updates after each meeting, which can be found below, alongside updates from the previous Chair, Raj Jain. Here you will also find any updates from James Sumner, Chair of the Women’s Hospital Services in Liverpool Programme Board.