Women’s hospital services in Liverpool

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On Wednesday 9 October 2024, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside’s board will be presented with a case for change document describing the risks facing hospital-based gynaecology and maternity services in Liverpool.

Subject to the board’s approval of the document, a six-week period of public engagement will begin on 15 October 2024, giving people an opportunity to share their views about the issues it sets out.

You can sign up for our virtual reference group to receive further updates about this work.

Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust provides services for people in Merseyside, Cheshire and beyond.

There are a number of long-standing issues affecting these services, linked to the fact that Liverpool Women’s Hospital is not located alongside other adult hospital services. In 2016, a review identified a proposal for a new Liverpool Women’s Hospital to move alongside an adult acute hospital, however this did not move forward because funding was not available.

During 2022, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside oversaw a review to look at how Liverpool’s hospitals could work better together to improve care for patients – you can read a report into the review at the end of this page. Addressing the challenges affecting women’s health was one of three critical priorities identified as part of the review, and as a result a new programme of work has been established, with the aim of ensuring that we deliver the very best care for women and babies. A paper explaining how this programme will work was presented to a meeting for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board in February 2023 – you can also read this at the end of the page.

It’s really important to stress that no decisions or proposals about women’s services have been made yet. Although we’ve looked at this issue in the past, we need to fully consider the situation as it stands now, and develop potential options for the future. A key part of this will be working with patients, carers, the public, and other stakeholders to get their views and input.   

This programme of work is only at a very early stage, but as it progresses we’ll use this page to provide further updates and details of how you can get involved.

Briefings

Women’s Services Committee Chair Professor Hilary Garrett CBE will be providing 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.

More information