Report says Liverpool Women’s hospital 'should relocate'

An NHS report suggests the Liverpool Women’s hospital should move out of Toxteth to a new location in the city.

Four options for the future of services provided by the hospital have been published by health officials.

But they say the preferred option is to relocate women’s and neonatal services to a new hospital building on the same site as the new Royal Liverpool Hospital.

They say it offers the most benefits for patients, including improved safety and patient experience, reduced transfers of patients and less separation of mothers and babies.

The options have been developed as part of a review of women’s and neonatal services, which began in March 2016.

The review is happening because the needs of patients have changed since Liverpool Women’s opened more than 20 years ago.

Women are living longer and having babies later in life, while advances in medicine mean more premature and unwell babies are surviving when they wouldn’t have in the past.

Officials say this means patients require more complex care which isn’t always available at the Women’s, so many women have to be transferred to other hospitals before they can receive appropriate care, including some of the most seriously ill women.

The options for Liverpool Women’s hospital:

• · Relocate women’s and neonatal services to a new hospital building on the same site as the new Royal Liverpool Hospital

• · Relocate women’s and neonatal services to a new hospital building on the same site as Alder Hey Children’s Hospital

• · Make major improvements to Liverpool Women’s Hospital on the current Crown Street site

• · Make smaller improvements to the current Crown Street site

The review has involved staff from NHS organisations across the city, including midwives, nurses and doctors from the Women’s and other hospitals. The public were also asked for their views on the case for change at the hospital last summer, and these were used to develop the four options.