A proposal to re-establish a 24/7 children’s accident and emergency department at Southport and Formby District General Hospital has received strong support from Southport residents — but has prompted concern among some in Ormskirk, where the current children’s A&E would be closed under the plan.
The Shaping Care Together programme has identified two options for reforming emergency care in the area, either co-locate 24-hour adult and children’s services at Southport, costing approximately £33m, or at Ormskirk, at a one-off cost of over £80m.
Southport’s Labour MP Patrick Hurley, and West Lancashire’s Labour MP Ashley Dalton have both called for the co-location to be based within their constituencies.
A petition urging Ashley Dalton MP to oppose the closure of Ormskirk’s children’s A&E was closed at 2,622 signatures with the West Lancs MP confirming: “I am strongly in favour of A&E services being co-located at Ormskirk Hospital.”
Rob Cooper, Chief Executive of Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, 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.
“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 children’s A&E at Southport was closed over 20 years ago. Since then, children requiring urgent care in the town have been directed to Ormskirk Hospital. However, its paediatric A&E closes overnight, leading many families — especially those without private transport — to rely on Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, some 20 miles away.
A Strategic Outline Case published as part of the NHS-led Shaping Care Together programme identified Southport as the preferred site for a combined adult and children’s A&E.
According to the report, this configuration scored highest in terms of quality of care, deliverability, patient access, and long-term sustainability. A £33 million (downgraded at a meeting on 4 July from the earlier published £44.5m figure) capital investment would be required to deliver the plan, with national NHS funding expected via the Strategic Outline Case route.
The programme, developed by Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in partnership with regional NHS Integrated Care Boards, aims to address ageing infrastructure, rising demand, workforce shortages, and financial pressures in the local health system.