Aspen Wood is a new 40 bed specialist learning disability unit which opened to service users in March 2024. The site provides care for those who need the lowest level of security appropriate for them.
We recognise that those people who need a secure forensic environment also need highly specialist NHS support. We work together with our service users on a single care plan to help them move through services in the most appropriate way. A typical pathway into low secure sees the service user transferring from court or prison, stepping down from higher levels of security or transferring from other adult inpatient services. Our person-centred care pathway means a reduction in the length of stay with discharge planning from the start of their admission. This follows NHS England’s ‘Transforming Care’ agenda.
Aspen Wood has two wards, each of 20 beds to support people with complex forensic learning disability needs. It was completed on time and budget late last year. Following a period of staff training it has now admitted its first patients.
Maghull Health Park hold perhaps the largest concentration of expertise in forensic psychiatry and psychology in Europe and Mersey Care has invested in new buildings and, critically, new ways of delivering complex clinical care.
The service’s clinical lead Dr Johannes Cronje has worked to create the new model of care for service users to enable people to move through services as their risks and needs are supported.
He says: “I am convinced that this facility offers the most suitable environment for our patient population. We’ve taken a lot of learning into account in designing the building to create the best therapeutic environment, meeting the needs of service users and also as a high quality place for our staff to work in.”
Aspen Wood features two flexible 20-bed wards and includes spaces like immersive therapy rooms, a café and areas for sport. The interior design prioritizes simplicity, natural light, muted colour and neurodiversity-aware surfaces.
The building was constructed by IHP and Vinci and designed by northwest based architects Gilling Dod. Ahead of opening, Aspen Wood won the prestigious Clinicians Choice Award at the November 2023 Building Better Healthcare Awards. It has been highly commended at the Design in Mental Health Awards for our engagement with service users and was also highly commended at the Sefton Best Public Building Awards 2023.
Social value was also a major factor during the build, with contractors creating many local employment opportunities, apprenticeship and work experience with the local authority and with local education establishments. More than 10 percent of labour was drawn from the local Sefton Council area.
Maghull Health Park is located on a bus route just off the M58 junction 1 and close to Maghull North railway station.
We hope you find Aspen Wood a welcoming place to visit. We want to make your visit as pleasant as possible although note that young people under the age of 18 cannot visit without prior planning. The family visiting area, which is available by appointment, has Barnardo’s Jelly Baby kite mark. This demonstrates the room offers a comfortable appropriate space for service users to enjoy spending quality time together with their families.
The first time you visit the low secure unit you will be asked to produce photographic identification. Smoking and photography are not permitted on Maghull Health Park.
Full details are in this guide book for visitors. The booklet contains a non exhaustive list of items prohibited or restricted on site. We have a limited number of lockers at the entrance but please do not bring the listed items to Maghull. If you are in any doubt as to what you can bring into Aspen Wood for your own use or to leave for a relative or friend, please check with staff in advance by telephoning 0151 250 3054. Any items you wish to take to the visiting area – such as small amounts of money, spectacles, essential medication, any food for consumption by a patient or service user may be subjected to checks.
Maghull Health Park
Creating Aspen Wood
Watch short films about engagement and coproduction as the new site was built.
