Calls for combined A&E for hospital to continue

Ormskirk Hospital could lose its children's A&E department

A group of councillors are calling for adult and children's A&E services to remain at a Lancashire hospital amid plans for major changes to the NHS in the area.

A consultation is under way on two options for Ormskirk District General Hospital - the first is that the children's A&E, which is open from 08:00 BST until midnight, is closed and relocated to Southport Hospital, where it would be 24-hours.

The second is to relocate the adult A&E from Southport to Ormskirk and extend the current children's A&E to a 24-hour service.

This is the preferred option for the West Lancashire Labour councillors, while the NHS said it would be £45m cheaper to move the children's A&E to Merseyside.

The issue is set to be debated at a full West Lancashire Borough Council meeting after a motion was put forward.

It has been written by councillor Vickie Cummins, who is the lead member for health and wellbeing on behalf of the Labour group.

'Best provision possible'

Her motion states: "The current location of Ormskirk Hospital is almost precisely at the centre point of the wider catchment area, with almost all residents living within 10km. The current location of Southport Hospital means some residents live over 20km away."

The motion asks that the council formally adopts a position that it says is "the best provision of services for residents of both West Lancashire and beyond" and is "the co-location of both adult and children's A&E services at Ormskirk Hospital".

Finally, it also calls for an "urgent and extensive communications campaign to ensure all residents across are aware of the consultation".

In a previous report to a meeting of the Shaping Care Together joint committee, led by Cheshire and Merseyside and Lancashire and South Cumbria Trusts, the NHS said it looking to "explore long-term solutions for high-quality, sustainable care".

It said it currently "faces pressures from aging infrastructure, workforce shortages, financial challenges, and rising patient demand".

"With increasing population aging and complexity in care needs, maintaining duplicate services across two sites is unsustainable," it added.