Decade-Long Fight to Save Liverpool Women's Hospital Continues as Health Bosses Eye Service Shake-Up

 

A group of women who have spent ten years campaigning to protect Liverpool Women's Hospital say they will not back down, as health chiefs edge closer to moving some of its specialist services to another site, reports the local newspaper, The Liverpool Echo on this Year's Mother's Day.

 

This is a prese of their news article, of which the full item can be read by clicking the image to the right:

 

The Save Women's Hospital Campaign (SWHC) was founded in 2015 after the then chief executive of Liverpool Women's Hospital (LWH) suggested the Crown Street site in Toxteth could relocate or merge with another hospital. A decade on, the fight is far from over.

 

NHS Cheshire and Merseyside's board heard a recommendation on January 29 to explore moving some maternity and gynaecology treatments to the Royal Liverpool Hospital. The proposal would see around 30 high-risk pregnant women requiring surgical deliveries transferred to the Royal site, along with up to 100 gynaecological appointments. Health chiefs argue the move is necessary because LWH is the only specialist women's centre in the country not based on an emergency hospital site — a situation they say creates clinical risk.

 

But campaigners are having none of it.

 

"We want to keep all services currently at Liverpool Women's Hospital on Crown Street, with proper funding, properly staffed and fully equipped," said Felicity Dowling, one of the campaign's leading voices. "That's our fundamental policy — and it's why we've got 85,000 signatures on our petition."

 

Fellow campaigner and SWHC co-founder Lesley Mahmood argued that the clinical case misses a crucial point. "All the ICB's talk of services, but it doesn't touch on one of the most important points — the value of a safe and welcoming space, which is exactly what the Women's was built for," she said. "That reassurance for women in need of support is essential in so many ways."

 

Retired nurse and campaigner Sheila Altes echoed those concerns, warning that the proposals could be "the thin edge of the wedge." She said: "We need a specialist hospital and to keep it where it is, where we will get the specialised care that women need."

 

Teresa Williamson, who was born at the hospital, put it more bluntly: "Women have brought every human being into the world — so one hospital is not too much to ask for, is it?"

 

NHS bosses insist no final decision has been made and that the board is simply exploring options. They have promised a "period of engagement" with the public, though details of when this will begin have yet to be announced. It is understood any formal consultation will not get underway until after May's local elections, with a final decision potentially not coming until autumn 2026.

 

Dr Fiona Lemmens, associate medical director, told the January board meeting that the proposed changes amounted to "a drop in the ocean" of what needs to be done, but maintained that co-locating certain services was the "only viable option" in the short to medium term to reduce risk to patients.

 

Felicity Dowling rejected that framing entirely. "If the hospital needs more intensive care facilities, it should get them," she said. "That's what should be discussed — not moving services away, but properly funding services at the Women's."

 

Click to go to campaign website

 

The campaigners say they will be ready when the consultation begins.

Source: Liverpool Echo / Save Liverpool Women's Hopsital Campaign / Unionsafety