Review of Women’s and Neonatal Services provided by Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust

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The review, led by NHS Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), in partnership with Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust, and CCGs in Knowsley, South Sefton, and Southport & Formby, was driven by the need to maintain and improve quality of care for women and newborn babies, and make sure that services are sustainable. Midwives, nurses, and doctors at Liverpool Women’s believe that change is required because patient needs have become increasingly complex since the hospital opened more than 20 years ago, and there are now new ways of caring for patients and higher national standards. Often women need care and services that are not available at the Crown Street hospital, and therefore they have to be transferred to other hospitals for treatment. This means that the care women receive, and the experience they have, is not the very best that it could be; or we would want it to be.

In January 2017 a draft Pre-Consultation Business Case (PCBC) set out four potential options for the future, including a preferred option: a new hospital for women’s and neonatal services on the new Royal Liverpool Hospital campus, which was seen to offer the greatest number of benefits for patient care.

In September 2017 an independent clinical report into the review was published, which confirmed the need for change. In their report, the Northern England Clinical Senate, a panel of midwives and doctors who work outside of the north west, emphasised the risks of delivering care for women and newborn babies on a stand-alone site away from other related services, as is currently the case at Liverpool Women’s. Among the issues it highlighted were the problems that the Trust faces recruiting anaesthetics specialists, due to its isolated position; and the fact that Liverpool Women’s Hospital does not have CT or MRI scanning facilities, a blood bank, or an adult intensive care unit.

Both the PCBC and the Clinical Senate report are available on the NHS Liverpool CCG website: https://www.liverpoolccg.nhs.uk/get-involved/current-ongoing-consultations-engagements/liverpool-womens-hospital-review-of-services/