NHS England visit Mossley Hill site to monitor building progress

NHS England's Director of Estates, Simon Corben, has braved winter conditions to visit the new Mossley Hill mental healthcare site to receive an update on how work is progressing on the new build.

The new site is still around 18 months away from completion, but will become a state of the art 80-bed unit built to the latest high standards, which once opened will mark the end of dormitory wards in NHS inpatient mental healthcare in Liverpool.

“I’m pleased to see this impressive site well under way," said Mr Corben. "It marks a major investment in modern mental health care by Mersey Care for the Liverpool community, and a positive step towards eradicating dormitory wards in mental health facilities.”

Built on the site of the old hospital on Park Avenue, the new facility will use material from the older buildings crushed on site for re-use in the development, while Mersey Care has actively attempted to recruit local construction workers for the project by holding a jobs fair last year.

The new build has used 700 tonnes of steelwork and 40,000 bolts for the structure of the building, with 2.4 miles of new underground drainage installed on the nine-acre site.

“This amazing project will eradicate traditional shared dormitory style mental healthcare wards by providing single bedrooms with en suite bathrooms to promote privacy and dignity, as well as therapeutic light and airy environments that include activity areas,” explained Elaine Darbyshire, Mersey Care's Chief Communications, Engagement and Estates Officer.

"Mersey Care has a clear environmental strategy which also includes gardens, trees, cycle parking and car charging points. Our commitment to functional and beautiful buildings for the future also includes working with our stakeholders about the build itself.”

A public engagement exercise elected to retain the name Mossley Hill and staff and service users have chosen the new ward names, recognising local history and the legacy being inherited for the new facility.

A competitive tendering process took place, led by Liverpool and Sefton Health Partners, who are overseeing the build. Construction firm Grahams were chosen as the preferred build partner because of their experience including numerous health sector projects. Architects Gilling Dod have worked with service users, carers and stakeholders to create the safe, modern, airy and therapeutic designs for the building.

The new Mossley Hill is part of an extensive Estates strategy within Mersey Care with major new sites built at Clock View in Walton in 2015, Rowan View in Maghull in 2020 and Southport’s new Hartley Hospital, as well as refurbishing other sites such as Leigh Moss near Alder Hey. A new low secure unit, Aspen Wood in Maghull recently opened for staff training and will receive its first patients in March 2024.