Future of women's hospital under review again

The future of hospital-based maternity and gynaecology services in Liverpool is under review again - but this time health bosses say the potential for change goes beyond relocating the city's women's hospital.

Plans for maternity services at Liverpool's Women's Hospital to be co-located with emergency care were first suggested a decade ago in response to increasingly complex patient needs.

But a bid for £200m for a new hospital in 2021 was not successful.

A report setting out the case for making the changes will be discussed at a meeting on 9 October.

The hospital, which provides maternity, gynaecology, reproductive, genetic and neo-natal services, was opened by Princess Diana in 1995.

The majority of hospital gynaecology and maternity care in the city takes place at the Toxteth hospital.

Dr Fiona Lemmens, deputy medical director for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, said the site of the current women's hospital on Crown Street remains a "vital part" of NHS services for Liverpool.

Although issues around hospital gynaecology and maternity services in Liverpool have been looked at before, this is a new process which is being led by NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, working in close partnership with hospital trusts in the city.

Dr Lemmens said the review is taking place again as "some time has passed and we have got a lot more data than we did and we are having a much broader conversation about the best way to provide maternity and gynaecology services in Liverpool".

She said that funding remains an issue for the NHS but restarting the process will allow the board to think about this in more detail.

Current arrangements for women’s services also mean that all of the city’s gynaecology and maternity specialists are at Liverpool Women’s, so that other hospitals are therefore less able to meet women’s medical needs when they present at accident and emergency (A&E), or when receiving care under another service.

Subject to NHS Cheshire and Merseyside’s board approving the case for change on 9 October, a six-week public engagement will start on 15 October.

They said no proposals are being put forward at this stage, and no decisions about how services might look in the future have been made.

The board says this will give people an opportunity to share their views on the issues presented in the case for change, and their own experiences of care.

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