NHS England has published plans confirming its preferred option to reunite adult and children’s Accident and Emergency (A&E) services at Southport Hospital, 23 years after children’s emergency care was moved to Ormskirk.
The plans, backed by £33m in funding, would end a split that has required families to travel between two hospitals separated by nine miles of road since 2003. Under the current arrangement, adults attend Southport Hospital for emergency treatment while children are taken to Ormskirk District General Hospital.
More than 5,000 people responded to the Shaping Care Together public consultation, and independent analysis found strong public support for consolidating services at the Southport site. Up to 350 new car parking spaces have also been announced as part of the proposals.
A final decision will be made by the regional NHS joint committee at a public meeting at Ormskirk Civic Hall on 13 March 2026.
Southport MP Patrick Hurley and Sefton Central MP Bill Esterson issued a joint statement welcoming the publication.
Mr Hurley said: “For too long, families across Southport have been let down by a system that asked them to travel between two hospitals in some of the most stressful moments of their lives. The clinical evidence, the public response, and the views of local people have all pointed in the same direction, and today’s publication confirms that the NHS has listened.”
He added: “This has been a long campaign, and I am grateful to everyone who responded to the consultation, attended public meetings, and made their voices heard, including Bill and his constituents across Sefton Central. The case for Southport is clear, and I urge the joint committee to take this final step and formally approve the preferred option when they meet on 13 March.”
Mr Esterson said: “I’m increasingly optimistic that the NHS Trust will make the right decision and restore a 24/7 Children’s A&E at Southport. That would be hugely welcome news for residents across Sefton Central, especially families in Ainsdale, Formby, Ince Blundell and Hightown, who need reliable emergency services close to home.”
He added: “The plans for a new health centre in Maghull are also increasingly likely with the government funding for the NHS in Cheshire and Merseyside. Across my Sefton Central and Southport, NHS services are being improved and I am thrilled at the good news.”
The move is not without opposition. The proposals are understood to be unpopular in Ormskirk and Skelmersdale, where Ormskirk District General Hospital would lose its children’s A&E department.
Councillor John Pugh, Liberal Democrat leader on Sefton Council, said the NHS believes it is neither safe nor economical to run A&E from two hospitals separated by nine miles of winding road.
Cllr Pugh, who attended a joint meeting of West Lancashire and Sefton Council representatives in Ormskirk on Friday, drew a sharp distinction between the current proposals and the original 2003 decision to move children’s services out of Southport.
“This is, if it happens, not a simple reversal,” he said. “The change back to Southport is based on masses of fine-grained clinical data and has a clear rationale. What happened in 2003 was a political stitch-up.”
The 2003 removal of children’s A&E from Southport prompted massive public protests, a march through the streets and a petition carrying 20,000 signatures.
Cllr Pugh said Ormskirk would retain an Urgent Care Centre where parents could seek reassurance for minor childhood injuries and symptoms. He contrasted this with the provision in Southport after 2003, saying: “We were persistently denied that in Southport so as to make the Ormskirk site viable and forced in absolutely every case to go to Ormskirk despite poor public transport and winding road, adding to parental stress. I pay tribute to all those who have never given up the battle for a better deal.”
He also pointed to a potential benefit for road access, noting: “A consolation is from the Meols Cop roundabout it is a West Lancs road and only they and Lancashire County can change it. The council there has now a motive and a case to improve access to Southport which it didn’t see before.”
Asked about the possibility that A&E services could move in the opposite direction, from Southport to Ormskirk, Cllr Pugh said: “It would be utterly horrific and dangerous if A&E were to leave Southport and decamp to Ormskirk. Happily, I don’t think that will happen.”
The final decision rests with the regional NHS Integrated Care Boards, which will meet as a joint committee on 13 March.