Children's A&E could return to Southport within five years
Plus: Golf ball rows stalls plan for dozens of new homes
Hello and welcome to the midweek edition of The Southport Lead.
Back in March, this newsletter was the only place you could read in depth about the reorganisation of A&E services in the town as multiple figures called for the kids emergency care to be brought back. Things have moved well on from there.
On Friday, a board of NHS leaders will meet to discuss the outcome of a pre-engagement programme which involved surveys, public meetings, and focus groups and factored inputs from patients, the wider public and stakeholders. That programme has resulted in a conclusion that the best option would be to house emergency care for all ages here in Southport.
Today’s newsletter takes a look at what exactly that means and, crucially, what comes next.
We also have some recommended reading and a frustrating example of how our planning system works as a decision on whether to allow a housing estate to be build near Hillside Golf Course was delayed. The planning committee meeting where that decision wasn’t taken somehow included a debate over whether golf balls will cause more damage to people or roads.
Children’s A&E services return to Southport moves closer
By Jamie Lopez
Children’s A&E services look set to return to Southport within the next five years.
More than two decades after emergency paediatric care was removed and families told to travel to Ormskirk, local NHS leaders will this week push forward with plans for a single emergency care centre in Southport.
A joint committee meeting - including members from the two Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) of Cheshire and Merseyside and Lancashire and South Cumbria - takes place on Friday and will trigger a consultation on proposals to build new services at Southport.
Documents prepared for that meeting, which take place at Ormskirk Civic Hall, explain a review of emergency care began in spring 2024 and resulted in a desire for the co-location of adult and paediatric services.
The review was carried out by the NHS Shaping Care Together programme - a partnership between those ICBs and the Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals trust which runs the Southport and Ormskirk sites. Last year, the programme sought views on changing the way urgent and emergency care services are provided across Southport, Formby and West Lancashire.
It was driven by a desire to both improve care provision and address “operational inefficiencies, workforce pressures, and fragmented care delivery”. Among the benefits, it is argued, will be less reliance on agency staff which has become commonplace while staffing emergency departments in two locations. Staffing changes alone are forecast to save £1.5m annually.
The new A&E department will be open 24/7 (unlike the current children’s service in Ormskirk) and, although it has now been confirmed by the NHS, The Southport Lead understands that it will be accompanied by the expansion of other clinical services at the hospital - such as physiotherapy and orthopedics - to allow more patients to receive treatment in the single location.
A multi-storey car park is also being considered to meet the additional demand.
Sources have told The Southport Lead that NHS leaders are aiming to have construction work under way by April next year and hope it could be completed as soon as 2028. That would be 25 years after the original closure but is considered an ambitious target with a five-year timeline cited in documents.
If, as expected, the SCT committee backs the proposals in the report on Friday, the 13 week consultation will begin immediately and, with NHS bosses insisted that no final decisions have been made, calls are already being made for people to unite and make their voices heard.
Southport Patrick Hurley MP has been calling for the return of the service both in public and in private discussions with local health leaders. He said his focus has been on addressing how to overcome hurdles which have prevented this from happening in the past and is delighted to see the new progress.
He is also calling for people to have their say and has launched an online survey whose responses will be delivered directly to the consultation.
Hurley said: “This is a once in a generation opportunity to bring back the children's emergency services our town deserves. Southport’s proposal is the top scoring and clinically preferred option. But this decision is not final, the NHS needs to hear from the people it affects most.
“We need a dedicated children’s A&E service integrated with adult emergency care, right here in Southport. At the moment, there is no overnight provision for children locally, and families are forced to travel long distances, sometimes over 45 minutes, to access urgent care. That is simply unacceptable.
“Our town is big enough to justify a full, functioning emergency department for both adults and children. This would mean quicker response times, less stress for parents, and better health outcomes for our children.”
The consultation documents will also ask for opinions on moving adult A&E services to Ormskirk instead but make clear that Southport is the preferred option. They also make clear that maintaining the current system or building a new site are not viable options.
Cllr John Pugh lobbied for the reinstatement of children’s A&E services during his time as MP and, having seen false dawns such as the proposals for a new build hospital, is urging people to help ensure their voices are heard.
He said: “The separation of A&E which was almost unique in the UK was never an arrangement that made sense to the people of Southport and was imposed by the executive of the NHS in the defiance of local opposition.
“The unity shown by local politicians on this subject has been at times impressive. Only last November, Sefton Council unanimously passed a motion requesting NHS chiefs to back the return of Children's A&E. However, local politicians have never decided these matters. The power resides with NHS chiefs and they have the internal politics of the NHS to deal with.
“Previous plans to build a new hospital and, earlier, to start a Children’s Minor Injuries department were developed and then forgotten. Hope has come and at times gone. That’s why it’s so important that the town must speak with one voice.
“There will be opposition in Ormskirk and questions about the status of maternity services there, and there are always many other calls on NHS investment. That's why a unified voice from the town and the Council is so important. Politicians aren’t making this decision but any politician who wants to drive wedges between the parties will be serving no-one’s interest, but their own.
“This is too precious an opportunity to squander. We must all speak with one voice."
While various people and political parties will seek to take credit, and indeed those efforts have already begun in some quarters, the financial aspect means that only one outcome was ever likely.
A forecast cost of £45m to provide all-age emergency care in Southport is half of the £90m estimated to do the same in Ormskirk.
Geography is also a factor - there will understandably be great unhappiness in West Lancashire about the decision but decision makers will argue the availability of hospitals such as Whiston St Helens means that people living in Skelmersdale are better able to receive treatment elsewhere compared to their Southport counterparts.
Cllr Mike Prendergast, the Conservative group leader at Sefton Council, was keen to play up the role played by the Tories and said campaigning will continue until the service is officially reinstated.
He added: As someone who has lived in Southport for 25 years, now with two young children of my own, I know how important it is for families across the area to have access to emergency children’s care in our town.
“It has long been the position of Southport Conservatives that for a town of over 90,000 people, Southport needed to see its Children’s A&E service return.
“It was never acceptable for families to have to travel to Ormskirk and between midnight to 8am, have to travel to Liverpool, at least 45 minutes away.”
A spokesperson from the programme said: “No decisions have been made at this stage. Before that can happen, programme partners will first put forward proposals and seek views from the people who use and rely on the local NHS services in a public consultation.
“Earlier this week, papers were submitted to the programme’s joint committee, due to meet this Friday, 4th July in Ormskirk, with recommendations for what to include in proposals.
“We understand that many people will want to have their say on this important subject. If proposals are approved, a consultation will begin immediately and there will be many ways to join the discussion and take part.”
Updates will be provided on the programme’s website and people can also receive newsletter updates by email. To do so, contact sct.getinvolved@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk, or call 0151 478 7929 and leave a message.
Recommended reading
✝️ Sad news from Stand Up For Southport with the death of Reverend Alex Galbraith. An extraordinary man who lived an extraordinary life, he was born blind and completed a series of daredevil fundraising stunts including white water rafting and abseiling.
🍽️ There’s double dining out news with the re-opening of Hickory’s after an refurb and the launch of Mediterranean-themed Sirocco at The Grand.
Golf ball row stalls decision on new housing estate
By Elliot Jessett
Proposals for a new housing development have stalled amid a row between the developer and a local golf club after concerns were raised about the risk of golf balls hitting new residents.
LR Developments (NW) Ltd had submitted a proposal to build 33 new homes on Lynton Road in Hillside and hoped its plans would be approved by Sefton Council’s planning committee. However, the new housing scheme was subject to a series of objections, including a petition signed by 195 local residents and a representation by Hillside Golf Club about the risks posed by ‘errant’ golf balls.
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