Healthcare in Liverpool reflects the unique historical legacy of the port. The city had five of the most deprived areas in the country in 2012 according to a Church Urban Fund report. According to Mayor Joe Anderson, "The people in Calderstones, Woolton, and Childwall outlive the people in other areas of Liverpool, like parts of north Liverpool, by 10 to 12 years or so".
History
Liverpool's Health of the Town Committee appointed Thomas Fresh as 'Inspector of Nuisances' on 4 September 1844 The city appointed its first medical officer of health, William Henry Duncan, in 1847. In 1851, a boy born in inner Liverpool had a life expectancy of only 26 years
Management structures
Liverpool has had unstable administrative arrangements with the North West region, and in particular with Manchester since the establishment of the NHS. In 1946 drawing the boundary between the Liverpool and Manchester regional hospital boards proved to be particularly difficult because of "the jealousy felt by Liverpool for Manchester and the reluctance of Preston to consider any scheme centred on Liverpool or Manchester."
NHS North West was established as a strategic health authority in 2006. It had oversight of 24 primary care trusts, 23 acute trusts, 8 mental health trusts, 7 specialist trusts, as well as the North West Ambulance Service. In October 2011 NHS North West, alongside NHS Yorkshire and Humberside and NHS North East became a part of the NHS North of England SHA cluster – a temporary administrative merger to manage the North of England health economy until the planned dissolution of SHAs in March 2013. The authority closed on 31 March 2013 as part of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
Sustainability and transformation plan
The Liverpool City Region submitted proposals for greater local control of the NHS and social care in 2015 following developments in Manchester.
Cheshire and Merseyside formed a sustainability and transformation plan area in March 2016 with Louise Shepherd, the chief executive of Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust as its leader
Plans to merge the four clinical commissioning groups in north Merseyside were rejected by NHS England in September 2020 because they insisted on a single commissioning body for the entire Cheshire and Merseyside system. In October 2021 John Ashton was shortlisted for the position of chair of the Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System. Although he was the highest scoring candidate the board decided not to appoint anyone. David Flory was to continue as interim chair.
Commissioning
The three clinical commissioning groups covering Liverpool, South Sefton, and Southport and Formby, announced plans to merge in March 2017 and were abolished in 2022 when all CCGs in England were replaced with integrated care systems.
Acute services
Liverpool is unusual in having a large number of small specialist NHS trusts. In October 2014 plans were unveiled in the Healthy Liverpool programme, approved by Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group and supported by the city council which would concentrate services, especially for cancer patients and major trauma at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. The proposals, which will be subject to public consultation, include: improvements in primary care; greater access to GPs; more support for people to manage their own care; better illness prevention; some services moving from hospitals into the community; changes to some hospital services to improve outcomes and quality.
Dr Fazlani, chair of the CCG said “If we reduced emergency admissions to hospitals by just 11% we would be able to afford an extra one and a half GPs in every practice in the city. This is the virtuous circle we are aiming to create".
There will be fewer hospitals in Liverpool under the Healthy Liverpool plans to shake-up the city's NHS by providing more care in the community. Cardiology services are offered at four or five sites in Liverpool in 2015 but it is proposed that they will be delivered by a single team at one or two sites.
Between 2010 and 2015 hospitals in Merseyside lost a large number of beds, mostly in general hospitals, though there was some increase in specialist hospitals.
In 2022 there were discussions on plans to bring six NHS trusts in the city into a £2bn group of hospital providers which could be called the 'United Hospitals of Liverpool' led by David Nigel Dalton the interim chief executive of Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
As of 2022, hospital trusts based in Merseyside included the following: