Developing our estate to support quality healthcare

Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WHH) has approved a strategic direction for the development of our estate and buildings, to support the future delivery of strong and sustainable healthcare services for communities in Halton and Warrington.

We have been considering alternative ways to ensure that services are delivered from accommodation of a high standard, since learning that we would not be included in the latest funding round of the government’s New Hospitals Programme.

Large parts of our ageing estate are in need of significant modernisation and we have been clear that we would need to develop alternative plans to support the evolving healthcare needs of our communities and tackle inequalities in access to healthcare.

Our Trust Board has signed up to the following principles for the development of our estate. We will:

• make the best use of our hospital sites so that:
  • space at Warrington Hospital is protected for the care of patients with the most urgent, complex and serious medical conditions
  • space at Halton Hospital is used effectively to support the delivery of effective diagnostics and as a centre for planned surgery and procedures
• continue our focus on developing facilities within our communities in both Halton and Warrington from which we can provide more routine care and appointments
• provide modern accommodation for staff and services, which removes the need to house staff and services in ageing buildings where significant investment and repair are required.

Our approach is aligned to one of the three shifts in the national 10-Year Health Plan for the NHS – moving care from hospitals to communities. Our strategy aims to deliver more care as close to patients’ homes as possible - from clinics, health centres and health hubs. Local venues are often better served by public transport and parking facilities and can help to remove some of the barriers which prevent people from accessing healthcare (e.g. cost, distance, public transport availability). 

We have already successfully introduced this approach with recent developments including Halton Health Hub (located in Shopping City, Runcorn) and the Living Well Hub (located in Warrington town centre) allowing our staff to deliver more services in the community and away from our main hospital sites.

We have also continued to support investment in our hospital estate in recent years, developing enhancements including a new diagnostic centre at Halton, new MRI centre and Same Day Emergency Centre at Warrington.

Our plans for the future also reflect a more co-ordinated approach to using public facilities across the wider health and care system in Halton and Warrington and other communities we serve, which will support greater integration between hospital and community services. WHH has already announced its intention to integrate with Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which will see the two Trusts work together to improve services and, subject to all necessary approvals, eventually become a single organisation.

The proposals we have agreed reflect a high-level plan, with any further detail requiring development and plans being subject to internal and external review and scrutiny. Any proposals for significant changes to how and where services are delivered would be developed in partnership with staff, patients and communities through an ongoing programme of engagement and consultation.

We would like to hear your feedback on how you access Outpatients appointments, what barriers you experience and what is important to you when booking an appointment.

To share your thoughts / feedback, please visit https://forms.office.com/e/ei753eVrXb 

For more information or for any queries, please contact whh.engagement@nhs.net