There is a plan to consolidate two A&E departments either in Southport or Ormskirk
17:28, 04 Jul 2025Updated 17:40, 04 Jul 2025
Ormskirk Hospital in West Lancashire
Two A&E services in Southport and Ormskirk are facing the axe as NHS bosses have announced plans to “bring services together” at one site, accepting patients from Southport, Formby and West Lancashire.
The proposals have been put forward by the NHS Shaping Care Together Programme (SCT), the authority in charge of how NHS services are provided in Southport and Formby and West Lancashire.
Involved in the programme are Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board, and NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board.
The first option, preferred by SCT, proposes bringing children’s and adult A&E rooms together on a single site at Southport Hospital, relocating the children’s A&E from Ormskirk Hospital and extending it to a 24 hour service.
The second option proposes to bring services together at Ormskirk Hospital, relocating the adult A&E from Southport to Ormskirk and extending the current children’s A&E to a 24 hour service.
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust chief executive Rob Cooper said: “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 proposals come in response to some of the challenges the local healthcare system is facing and the ambition to improve services for patients, SCT said.
A public consultation has been launched asking people to share their views on where their local A&E services should be located.
Mr Cooper 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.”
A consultation booklet, published as part of the public consultation, ruled out the option of maintaining current A&E services and adding new A&E services elsewhere.
It read: “We do not have the resources to maintain services as they are today. We cannot increase that burden by introducing new services.”
It also ruled out keeping the two existing A&Es open with increased service times: “Current pressures mean we cannot continue as services are today without a further deterioration in standards and patient outcomes.”
The proposals are expected to affect a population of 246,000 people – 102,000 in Southport, 26,000 in Formby, 28,000 in Ormskirk and 39,000 in Skelmersdale.
The consultation will run between July 4 and October 3 2025. Residents can have their say by taking the survey or by going along to one of the public events or discussion groups being organised across the area.
A petition calling on Ashley Dalton, MP for West Lancashire, to oppose the closure of Ormskirk Children’s A&E has been signed more than 2,000 times.
Responding to the news on Our West Lancashire, a public Facebook group for West Lancashire residents, Sheila Thomas said: “Building more and more houses in Ormskirk/Burscough but no provision for the extra children with local A&E. It’s a long way to travel from West Lancashire area to Southport with a sick child.”
Alyson Smith said: “With the traffic the way it is in Ormskirk this is a disaster waiting to happen. It’s bad enough that adults have to make that journey.”