Campaigners Warn Liverpool Women's Hospital Public Engagement Process Conceals Closure Plan

Only three public meetings begin this month as petition against closure surpasses 90,000 signatures

!!Decision is already made - irrespective of public opinion!!

 

Campaigners fighting to save Liverpool Women's Hospital have warned that a public "engagement" exercise launching this month is being used to lay the groundwork for moving the entire service away from its Crown Street site — without making that long-term intention clear to the public.

 

Option 2 in the current public 'engagement' is the pre-curser to option 6 which is about dispersing Maternity services to other Liverpool Hositals irresepctive of their current lack of capacity, expertise, and state of the buildings; and then the closure of the crown street site, and ulitmatel the sale of site to private healthcare concerns such as Spire Hospitals or even for property developers.

 

The Save Liverpool Women's Hospital campaign says that while the consultation presents only "Option 2" — a relatively limited transfer of complex elective surgical cases to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital — board papers and recordings from the Cheshire and Merseyside NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) make plain that this is a stepping stone toward a full relocation.

 

At the ICB's January 2026 meeting, chair Sir David Henshaw stated that "there is no stepping back from the long-term solving of this issue" — referring to Option 6, a full transfer of services — and called for a "big capital spend" to achieve it. That meeting is publicly available on video here Watch at 21 minutes to 44 minutes in

 

ONLY Three public meetings scheduled

Residents have three opportunities to attend in-person sessions:

• Monday 15 June, 2.00pm — Merseyside Fire & Rescue Conference Centre, Bridle Road, Bootle
• Monday 29 June, 11.00am — The Old School House, St John's Road, Huyton
• Tuesday 30 June, 5.00pm — Blair Bell Room, Liverpool Women's Hospital, Crown Street

Online responses can also be submitted via the NHS engagement portal here.

Be warned that this questionaire provides limited opportunity to learn about the plans and to respond with full knowledge of what this option 2 is all about - a precursor for option 6 - full closure of the Liverpool Women's Hospital.

Campaign criticises lack of transparency

The campaign argues that the published case for change omits critical context. A recent board report from the NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group — which now controls the hospital following a merger that took place without public consultation — identified a risk that Liverpool Women's "does not offer the full range of clinical support services required for delivery of complex and tertiary maternity and gynaecology services." Campaigners say these gaps — including dietetics, occupational therapy, pain services, and psychology — are resolvable with adequate funding, not grounds for relocation.

The hospital is currently implementing £12.71 million in cost improvement plans while facing a reported £6 million annual cost to maintain the Crown Street site. Board papers put the cost of building a new women's hospital at between £350 million and £500 million.

 

Broader context

The campaign situates the threat to Liverpool Women's within what it describes as a national maternity crisis.

Two major government-commissioned reports into NHS maternity care — from Donna Ockenden and Valerie Amos — are awaited. Amos's interim findings have already been described as damning. Liverpool Women's Hospital has a new £20 million neonatal unit and a new diagnostics centre.

More than 90,000 people have signed the campaign's petition, which calls for the hospital to remain on Crown Street with improved funding and staffing. A large public meeting, chaired by Kim Johnson MP, has already been held to register local opposition.

The campaign's position is that the women of Liverpool require a dedicated, well-funded women's hospital — not a dispersal of services across multiple sites including Aintree, the Royal, and Crown Street.

 

Full details of the engagement process and the campaign's analysis are available at the Save Liverpool Women's Hospital website.

 

Source: Save Liverpool Women's Campaign / unionsafety