Mersey Care will open a modern state of the art mental health facility in Mossley Hill, Liverpool later this year (2025), which will mark the end of dormitory wards in the city.
The Trust took ownership of the facility in mid-August after the practical completion of the build. The site will not be open to patients or service users or operational until later in the year once the commissioning period is concluded, which includes fitting out, staff training and familiarisation, which normally lasts for three months.
Please keep on eye on this page for the latest news on the project, which will be updated with all the developments.
The new 80 bed Mossley Hill site will eradicate traditional shared dormitory style mental health care wards by providing:
- Single bedrooms with en suite bathrooms to promote privacy and dignity
- Ward and facilities named to reflect the local community, culture and history
- Four single sex wards and a patient café
- Therapeutic light and airy environments that include activity areas
- Facilities that promote recovery such as family visiting and multi faith spaces
- Access to safe garden areas.
Until the new facility becomes operational, any patients and service users receiving mental health care from the Trust will continue to do so at their current sites.
We will be contacting patients and service users with details of the planned changes well ahead of the move.
2025
Mersey Care take ownership of the new facility in August. During the 30-month build, the construction leads worked with local schools and colleges, employed apprentices, and two local under-18s on work experience, as well as investing in the local economy by employing firms from the nearby area.
2024
The Zero Suicide Alliance worked with Grahams’ wellbeing leads to deliver a toolbox talk to the 100+ workforce. They provided five steps that people can take to improve their mental health and wellbeing, particularly given the tragically strong relations of serious mental health issues in some sections of the construction work economy.
2023
Chair Rosie Cooper held a symbolic ‘ground breaking’ event on site in February alongside Trust governors, local politicians and construction partners, This gave stakeholders a chance to see the work at first hand and discuss progress. Staff and service users were also asked to choose names for parts of the site.
2022
Mersey Care’s Trust Board approved a revised outline business case setting out the scheme in more detail and this was accepted by NHS England and Improvement. In August 2022, HM Treasury and the Department of Health and Social Care approved the next stage of the scheme and work began on site.
A further public engagement exercise, held online and advertised in local venues, confirmed the majority of respondents wished to keep the name ‘Mossley Hill’ for the new service. Residents were also updated with newsletters and developments from the Trust’s social media account.
2021
A competitive tendering process took place overseen by Liverpool and Sefton Health Partnership. Construction firm Graham were chosen as build partner because of their experience with numerous projects in the health sector. The site architects were Gilling Dod and they have worked with service users, carers and stakeholders to create the modern, airy designs for the new facility.
The old hospital site was demolished except for the historic Mossley House mansion building which was later sold. Demolition experts recycled around 95 per cent of the salvage and buildings were crushed for re-use on site as future building materials.
There was a gradual relocation of services from the Mossley Hill site over several years to other new or improved facilities, with all remaining inpatient and community mental health services moved off the Park Avenue site.
Mersey Care is always keen to work with stakeholders and recent construction projects have been shortlisted for awards for co-production with our patients and service users as well as recognising design in the community.
We also work closely with our construction partners on what’s called ‘social value’. These are activities and projects where the local community, schools and local employers are closely involved, so that we contribute to the area and where possible, employ local people and use local contractors.
For Mossley Hill, our construction firm Graham worked with the community regarding employment during the building work. There was an jobs fair in June 2023 for construction roles on site. They reached out to local stakeholders and educational establishments to offer work experience, intern roles and other training to local people. Graham trialled an immersive wellbeing pod for their workers and operatives to access practical mental health care in early 2024: the first initiative of its kind.
Graham had two under 18 local students booked in for site-based work experience placements with their project management team. Graham also worked the City of Liverpool College, Design, Surveying and Planning T-Level students for placements. They also attended networking ‘Meet the Professional’ events, including at St Francis Xavier’s College, Liverpool. Graham also supported the Mersey Cares charity with a patient initiative and engaged with school children.
Please view our short video of Chief Nurse Jenny Hurst taking a tour around the new Mossley Hill Healthcare Facility in August 2025 (see above).