Share your views on proposed location for local A&E services in Southport and Formby

Earlier today we launched a public consultation asking people to share their views on where accident and emergency services (A&E) across Southport, Formby and West Lancashire should be located.

Last year, when we asked for views on changes we could make to services in response to current pressures, many people told us we should bring children’s and adult A&Es together on a single site.

A&E services in our area are currently split across two sites with children’s at Ormskirk Hospital and the adult service in Southport. Our children’s unit, however, has been closed overnight for the past five years. Bringing services together on a single hospital site would help ease the pressures and allow us to provide round the clock emergency care to both adults and children. This is how it is done in most places across the rest of the NHS in England.

Options for a future A&E

Our proposals include two specific options for bringing services together at either Southport or Ormskirk hospital. Based on the evidence available to us, our preferred option is Southport which:

• Could be delivered two years faster.
• Would cause less disruption to current services during redevelopment.
• Would cost significantly less.

You can find out more about how these options were developed and the evidence used to support them in our consultation booklet.

Get involved, have your say

Before making any decisions, we need to hear from the people who use and rely on our services. We want to make sure that patients, staff and a range of community voices are heard and taken into account. All views, thoughts and contributions are welcome, and especially those that help:

• Make sure we have all relevant, available evidence.
• Understand how people might be affected and what could be done to help.
• Make sure that the views we receive are representative of the people and communities we serve.

There are a number of ways you can get involved:

• Visit the programme website to find the latest news and learn more about our proposals and the evidence used to support them.
• Complete our survey.
• Attend one of the public events being organised across the area.
• Volunteer to take part in one of our small group conversations (focus groups).

The information you need, the way you need it

We are committed to helping everyone take part. We have produced the booklet in both summary and easy read versions and can also provide printed copies, available with a printed copy of the survey.

 If you need information in a format that suits you better, or need our support to join in the conversation, please get in touch and let us know how we can help.

Finding the best solutions will take time and effort. We will work as hard as we can to make it happen, but we cannot do it without you.

The consultation is running for 13-weeks and will close on Friday 3 October.

I look forward to hearing your views and opinions so that we can learn more about what matters most to you.

Best wishes,

Rob Cooper.

Chief Executive
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust