Shaping the future together

Architect sketches : ©Gilling Dod Architects

Developing low secure services on the Maghull Health Park

Mersey Care is commissioned to deliver forensic support for complex cases where people present significant risk to themselves or the public. These are not services solely for people because they have a learning disability. As with our other forensic in-patient units and hospitals across our Secure Division, we support people who have come to us through the legal system. Our Maghull site would deliver the full care pathway through these levels of security. We would expect those in our care to move through secure services and, with support, take their place in their own community.

Mersey Care has a long history of supporting people with learning disability in community and, as with these services, has specialised in forensic care for those requiring detention under the Mental Health Act. It is important to keep in mind these are not services for people who have a disability, but those who present with significant risks or offending behaviours and who require NHS care as part of treatment to address those behaviours.

We’re grateful to those who have engaged so far. Please take time to register your views on our secure provision here.

You can help us by taking part in a quick survey, tell us your stories and experiences, share ideas and take part in our discussion forum, take part in all or just those that suit you. Please take a moment to read the message from Mersey Care clinical lead for this project, Dr Frank McGuire before clicking on the buttons below to get started.

In 2017, NHS England undertook a national consultation on the closure of long stay accommodation for people with learning disability and autism in a secure setting. As a result of this, NHS England Commissioned Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust (Mersey Care) to improve the quality and quantity of low secure services for the benefit of people with a learning disability across the North West. This will be achieved by developing a modern therapeutic model of care provided at a single new hospital facility located at the Maghull site – now called Maghull Health Park.

High secure services are already provided from the site and from late 2020 medium secure services, including specialist learning disability provision, will also be provided on site. Additional services to improve gender balance of provision and separate services for Autism will be provided by Mersey Care and its partners in the North West Lead Provider Collaborative.

The development of a low secure hospital at the Maghull site has received outline planning permission, however Mersey Care remain committed to engaging with all stakeholders to ensure the low secure service model is fully understood and embedded within the local community.

Mersey Care Clinical Lead, Dr Frank McGuire, says:

'We don’t just want to sit the service within the borough of Sefton – we are committed to genuinely being a part of it and building on the traditions of longstanding services in the borough. We believe that as a trust we have a lot to offer but also a lot to gain from our relationship with the people of Sefton. It is our deeply held view that the wellbeing of communities is multi-faceted and must be supported through opportunity, hope and aspiration. Our desire is to be embedded in the local community, to be part of the Sefton and Maghull community where Maghull Health Park is seen as an asset because of the opportunities it brings.'

The low secure service is based on 3 principles:

1. Recovery, integration and aspiration: The lives of people in secure care have often been troubled and certainly disrupted due to their illness. Clinical intervention must be delivered in a timely and proactive way to avoid unnecessarily extended stays in hospitals. Our clinicians work collaboratively with service users and their families to support their recovery, help them achieve their goals and ultimately build a life beyond care.
2. Capacity and demand: Ensuring timely access to appropriate care in secure hospitals is a challenging task. Often beds are unavailable for people who are very ill, and they are placed in environments ill equipped to meet their needs. The configuration of services on Maghull Health Park will allow us to manage patient flow much more efficiently ensuring the beds, care and treatment is available when needed most.
3. Risk reduction and public protection: Providing safe and effective intervention from admission to discharge has and always will be our out primary objective. Nothing is more important to us than the critical contribution to public protection our services make. We never lose sight of our most fundamental task, to reduce the risk our service users pose and facilitate their safe return to community.

This engagement process will support the final planning application, construction and service implementation phases of the project and ensure the Mersey Care and the commissioners listen to the voice of patients, carers, staff and the local community to ensure this service is seen as local asset for Maghull in particular and Sefton in general.

You can help us by taking part in a quick survey, tell us your stories and experiences, share ideas and take part in our discussion forum, take part in all or just those that suit you.

For details about this engagement in other languages, braille or easy read, please write to Mersey Care LSU, V7 Kings Business Park, L34 1PJ

Learn more about Mersey Care’s ambition for a new generation of hospitals and hear from clinicians and the Trust Chief Executive in this short film made on Maghull Health Park