Liverpool Women’s is pleased to share details of the recently established Crown Street Enhancements Programme which through investment and development aims to increase the support services we can provide on our current hospital site, benefitting both patients and staff.
In late 2020, the Trust was successful in securing £6.5m of capital financing, to address some of the clinical challenges we face on the current Liverpool Women’s site. The Trust’s long-term preferred plan of re-locating and building a new Liverpool Women’s Hospital - adjoined to other adult acute services in the city - remains the same. However, whilst Liverpool Women’s remains at its current home it is important that its services and facilities continue to be developed to deliver the best and safest care possible as well as outstanding experiences.
The Crown Street Enhancements Programme has now been established to deliver a number of exciting projects designed to improve safety, as well as the experience of patients and staff at Liverpool Women’s. There are a number of clinical risks and challenges that the Trust will be mitigating by enhancing our current site, as well as improving our compliance with clinical standards. Improving our facilities will help to provide a better patient and staff experience whilst also providing an interim solution to tackle some of our clinical challenges.
Some of these projects are already up and running, and some will commence during 2021-22.
Robotic Assisted Surgery
In 2020, the Trust began piloting robotic assisted surgery within its Gynaecology service. The pilot aimed to bring access to the latest technology to the women of Liverpool, reducing risk, length of hospital stay and improving outcomes, as well as attracting the best clinicians to work in our service. The pilot was a resounding success and welcomed by our patients, and earlier this year the Trust purchased the theatre robot, securing the long-term future of the service. Patients have really welcomed this service with positive feedback since the Trust began delivering it.
Fetal Medicine Unit
The next phase of the programme involves the relocation of our Fetal Medicine Unit (FMU), which is currently on the ground floor. From May 2021, we will be working with Tilbury Douglas Ltd (formerly Interserve Ltd) to create a brand new unit on our 2nd floor, increasing capacity and helping us make big improvements to our patient pathway. By relocating Fetal Medicine, we will create space on the ground floor for a new CT imaging and Colposcopy suite.
CT Imaging & Colposcopy Suites
We are aiming to bring CT imaging to Crown street early in 2022-23. This development will reduce risk for some of our most seriously ill patients, who at the moment are transferred across the city when they need urgent scans, often separating mums and babies. By bringing CT imaging to Liverpool Women’s, we will be able to get women the urgent care they need at the right time, without delay. We will also be able to help our partners across the system recover from the impacts of COVID-19, by providing more CT capacity and helping to reduce waiting times.
Alongside our planned CT suite, we will also be creating a new colposcopy suite, to make sure our facilities meet the appropriate standards as well as improving the experience of the patients in our care.
Blood Bank
We currently do not have a blood bank on our hospital site and this can cause delays for women receiving vital blood and transfusion care. To address this we are working with partners in the NHS with the aim of providing a blood bank and transfusion services on our site, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the near future. Discussions are progressing positively and we hope to have further updates on these plans over the coming months.
Speaking about the securing of funding and the projects ahead, Jenny Hannon, Director of Finance, said: “We are delighted to have secured this capital support to make these exciting projects possible, particularly during these challenging times.
“The Crown Street Enhancements Project will deliver significant benefits to our patients and staff as well as the wider region by providing much needed diagnostic capacity within our current hospital site, not only benefitting Liverpool Women’s now but our wider health partners for the longer-term.
“We look forward to progressing with our plans to make our services even safer and more efficient, to provide an outstanding quality of care and experience for our patients.”