Local residents are expressing both curiosity and concern in response to a series of public meetings being held by local healthcare providers, chiefly Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (MWLTH), to discuss the future of emergency and urgent care services in Southport and surrounding areas.
OTS News attended the online public meeting on 1 October to learn more.
What are these meetings about?
MWLTH, the NHS Trust managing both Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, is conducting several public meetings in collaboration with the Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) of NHS Cheshire and Merseyside and NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria. These discussions focus on the future of emergency and urgent care services in the Southport area, as part of a broader initiative called Shaping Care Together.
These meetings mark the early stages of a long consultation process, which could lead to significant changes in how emergency and urgent care are delivered locally. While the online meeting attended by OTS News offered a detailed explanation of why changes are being considered, it did not provide specifics on what those changes might entail.
Why is emergency care under review in Southport (and other areas)?
In August 2020, Ormskirk’s Paediatrics A&E department began closing at 10 p.m. each night, a decision that was made permanent by the then Southport & Ormskirk NHS Trust a month later (and changed to midnight). This closure remains in effect over four years later, with most paediatric A&E patients now referred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
Additionally, in June 2023, following years of operational challenges and subpar ratings, the Southport & Ormskirk NHS Trust merged with St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals to form MWLTH. The panel at the public meeting explained that while the new Trust offers 24/7 emergency care for both children and adults other existing sites, it is currently unable to provide the same level of service at Southport and Ormskirk due to the overnight closure of the paediatric A&E.
A report titled The Case for Change, published by Shaping Care Together, explains: “We do not currently have enough appropriately skilled staff to allow us to re-open the paediatric A&E service overnight in a way that is safe.”
GPs and Ambulance Services
The panel clarified the distinction between emergency and urgent care, noting that patients being referred to the wrong service—often through self-referral—puts additional strain on resources. Emergency care typically applies to conditions posing an immediate threat to life or limb, such as heart attacks or strokes, while urgent care involves conditions that require prompt treatment within the next day.
During the meeting, a local resident asked whether improvements could be made to the process of booking GP appointments, suggesting that better GP access might reduce pressure on A&E services. However, the panel acknowledged that this issue extends beyond the scope of their proposals, as it remains a broader local and national challenge.
Another attendee raised questions over travel times, ambulance coverage, and the geographic challenges of Southport, pointing out that while Southport is a population center, the surrounding West Lancashire area has a larger population spread across a wider region. The panel confirmed that these factors would be considered in any future proposals, but highlighted the difficult balance between providing nearby services of lower quality versus more distant but higher-quality care.
Will Southport Hospital’s A&E department close?
The panel was quick to emphasize that no final decisions have been made, and that these meetings are focused on gathering public input before any concrete proposals are developed. While the potential closure of Southport’s A&E—and even the entire Southport & Formby Hospital—was raised in some in-person meetings, no such proposals were presented at this stage. The meeting focused primarily on explaining the reasons for the ongoing review.
That said, the possibility of closure of the department was not ruled out. The Case for Change document also notes that the cost of A&E services at Southport is 33% higher than the national average, stating: “To provide paediatric A&E services safely, and to ensure that emergency departments are supported by medical staff with the right training and skills, support is needed from anaesthetics and paediatrics. When children’s services are located on the same site as adult A&E, this support can be provided by the wider workforce. If additional support is needed at Ormskirk, it currently requires either calling in the consultant from home or transferring staff from Southport and Formby, increasing the risk to adult services.”
What happens now?
The first stage of public meetings for Shaping Care Together have closed, but a public survey seeking the views of residents is still open and can be taken here: https://yoursayshapingcaretogether.co.uk/your-views/surveys/your-views
Shaping Care Together will take all the relevant feedback and launch a subsequent full consultation after publishing any proposals, but the timeline for this is currently unclear.
For more information visit: https://yoursayshapingcaretogether.co.uk/
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