Mersey Care to support new era for community care in West Lancashire from 1 July

Mersey Care will support Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (MWL) in delivering community health services across West Lancashire from 1 July, working in partnership to strengthen care closer to home.

MWL will act as lead provider for the contract and Mersey Care has been sub-contracted to provide its expertise in delivering some of the specialist community services, which will covers mainly rural districts with a population of around 118,000 people, including Skelmersdale, Ormskirk and surrounding villages.

This marks a significant step forward for local services, bringing community care together under a more joined-up model to improve access, coordination and outcomes for patients. The two trusts will now deliver specialist input including stroke and neuro rehabilitation, planned therapies, dietetics, podiatry, speech and language therapy and falls prevention.

Trish Bennett MBE, Mersey Care's Chief Executive Officer, said: “We’re proud to be working with MWL to deliver community services across West Lancashire.This partnership brings together specialist expertise and experienced teams, helping to strengthen the support available to local people and ensuring a smooth transition for patients.”

Mersey Care already provides community services across Liverpool, Sefton, Knowsley and St Helens. From 1 July patients can continue to contact the services they need by phone or via a new email service, and will continue to receive care as normal during the transition, with no changes to how services are delivered.

Telephone: Care Coordination Hub – 0300 247 0011 (open seven days a week, 8am–8pm, with an answerphone outside these hours)
Email: MWL.westlancs-spa@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk The new email service will go live from 00:01 on 1 July. Until then, please continue using the current email address.

Rob Cooper, Chief Executive of MWL, said: “This is an important moment for community care in West Lancashire. By bringing services together and working closely with partners, we can offer more joined-up support for patients and improve how care is delivered locally.

“Our focus is on providing safe, high-quality care that is consistent, easy to access and delivered as close to home as possible. We already have significant experience of delivering services like these in other areas, and we are committed to building on that for the benefit of people in West Lancashire.”

Professor Craig Harris, chief commissioning officer at NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), added: “Community services play a vital role in helping people live well and independently. These new arrangements will improve collaboration and help deliver more consistent, accessible care, and lead to improved population health and wellbeing outcomes for patients across West Lancashire.”