The five adult acute and specialist NHS Trusts in Liverpool have set out opportunities to improve care for people in the city region through a case for change.

The five Liverpool Adult Acute and Specialist Providers (LAASP) consist of Liverpool University Hospitals NHS FT and Liverpool Women’s NHS FT, who came together as NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group (UHLG) in November 2024, along with Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS FT, The Walton Centre NHS FT, and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS FT.  

The case for change was independently produced by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on behalf of the LAASP Joint Committee, in response to direction from NHS Cheshire & Merseyside for the five organisations to work more closely together and to ‘act as one’. It aims to highlight opportunities within the Liverpool healthcare system to make changes that will benefit patients, with a focus on improving the quality of the services provided, improving patient outcomes, and reducing health inequalities.

Liverpool is the third most deprived local authority in England, with deepening inequalities, and with one in four people aged 20 and above projected to be living with a major illness by 2040. It is acknowledged that the five organisations need to work together more effectively to address these issues, ensuring that combined expertise and resources are better utilised to provide care to those who need it most. 

The case for change acknowledges the challenges that the five adult acute and specialist Trusts need to overcome and highlights a number of examples where fragmentation can be addressed within services including women’s health, cardiology, and stroke medicine. These current challenges, among others, cause unwarranted variation in the quality of care and health outcomes for patients.

However, the case for change also looks at the opportunities to build on existing clinical excellence and collaboration that already exists across the five Trusts such as stroke and speech and language therapy for people with cancer. Further collaboration is projected to improve care for patients in the future at scale, as well as capitalising on collective research, innovation and precision medicine opportunities.  

The case for change aims to summarise the patient benefit opportunities for the future including:
 

  • Improving the quality of services and patient outcomes: Offering more joined up services for patients through enhanced clinical pathways within services such as gynaecology, cardiology, and stroke services, and by delivering a single Electronic Patient Record (EPR) to help manage and mitigate clinical risks.  
     
  • Workforce and corporate services: Maintain and improve staff experience by offering clear career progression and flexibility for the workforce, maintaining and attracting top national talent and investing in advanced skills development. Reduce duplication and better optimise the use of the group hospital estate based on clinical need.
     
  • Clinical support and diagnostic services: Make the best use of diagnostic services and treatments and collaboration of existing pharmacy services, to align our collective capacity with the needs of our patients.  
     
  • Establishing a unified research and innovation network: Build upon existing research, innovation, and commercial opportunities by establishing a scaled up and unified research and innovation network and build on the benefits that research active organisations offer to patient outcomes.
     
  • Building sustainable services for the future: Unlock financial opportunities and the potential to generate additional income though improved clinical pathways, reducing the costs of duplication, taking the benefits from a shared workforce and corporate services, and by capitalising on research, development, innovation and commercialisation.

The case for change is being published on the NHS Cheshire & Merseyside website this week ahead of a board meeting held in public on 27 March 2025, where it will be discussed. The case for change will then be presented at each of the Trust’s public board meetings during April 2025.

Following the publication of the case for change, there will be a dedicated programme of engagement activities with staff, patients and other stakeholders as attention turns to developing the strategic case and UHLG Strategy 2030 which will expand on the opportunities identified within the case for change and chart an implementation journey for the future.

A report summarising the findings of the recent Maternity and Gynaecology Services in Liverpool period of engagement, is also being published by NHS Cheshire & Merseyside ahead of their next board meeting. This is separate to the LAASP case for change and is a programme that is being led by NHS Cheshire and Merseyside.