Local NHS asks for views on proposed location for A&E services
Date posted: 4th July 2025
A public consultation has been launched asking people to share their views on where A&E services across Southport, Formby and West Lancashire should be located.
Services are currently split across two sites with children’s A&E at Ormskirk Hospital and the adult A&E in Southport. The consultation document outlines two specific options for bringing services together at one of these sites.
The proposals come in response to some of the challenges the local healthcare system is facing and the ambition to improve services for patients.
As a result, the NHS Shaping Care Together Programme has been tasked with finding solutions that will provide everyone with safe, high quality urgent and emergency care services, all day, every day.
Last year a number of public events were held to gather views, and one of the main points raised was that it would be better if both A&Es were located on the same hospital site.
The three NHS partners working on the programmme are Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board and NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board.
Rob Cooper, chief executive of the Trust said: “We know that changes need to be made, and this is a great opportunity to make sure that services best suit our local communities.
“The NHS is facing mounting pressures which include rising demand, an ageing population, difficulties recruiting the right staff, maintaining buildings that are fit for purpose as well as mounting financial pressures. Due to a number of these reasons, the children’s A&E at Ormskirk Hospital has been closed overnight for the past five years.
“Bringing both A&Es back together on a single site will help ease these pressures and allow us to provide round the clock emergency care to both adults and children.”
The programme’s consultation booklet outlines two options for a single A&E. One is for bringing services together at Southport Hospital and the other at Ormskirk Hospital.
It shows that the Southport option could be delivered two years faster, would cause less disruption to current services during redevelopment and would cost significantly less. However, before making any decision, the views of people who use and rely on local NHS services need to be heard and taken into account.
You can have your say on proposals by taking the survey, or by going along to one of the public events or discussion groups being organised across the area.
The consultation is running between 4 July and 3 October 2025. Find out more at www.yoursayshapingcaretogether.co.uk