Liverpool children’s hospital, Alder Hey, and construction company, Morgan Sindall, are celebrating ‘a major milestone’ in the development of a new dedicated surgical NICU and expanded emergency care facility at the site, which is now structurally complete and set to open in 2026.
The purpose-built facility is the latest addition to Alder Hey’s expanding healthcare campus. To support the hospital in delivering ‘leading edge’ urgent care and emergency services, a ground floor Emergency Floor Expansion will bring together paediatricians, emergency care clinicians, advanced clinical practitioners, primary care, and family support workers. This includes a 16-bed assessment unit, a co-located Urgent Treatment Centre, and a purpose-built Same Day Emergency Care facility.
Through the national Urgent and Emergency Care Scheme – linked to individual Trust performance, Alder Hey was awarded £9 m of capital expenditure limit over the last two years, enabling Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust to improve and expand emergency care facilities, provide faster care, and reduce A&E waiting times. Alder Hey Children’s Charity has committed a further £1 m towards the project.
Above the ground floor facilities will be a new surgical Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The Trust says locating a NICU at Alder Hey site highlights the ambitions of the hospital’s collaboration with Liverpool Women’s Hospital through the Liverpool Neonatal Partnership. Together, the two Trusts say they are ‘bringing together the highest standards of neonatal, surgical, and nursing expertise, while ensuring that neonatal care is delivered within the best possible environment’. The smallest and sickest babies requiring surgery will no longer need to be transferred between Alder Hey and Liverpool Women's Hospital for their care.
Alder Hey Children’s Charity has provided over £3 m in funding to provide enhancements and equipment ‘to enable the hospital to create a truly world-class surgical neonatal intensive care unit’.
During a special event, staff from Alder Hey joined colleagues from Liverpool Women’s Hospital, Alder Hey Children’s Charity, and others involved in the project – including the construction team from Morgan Sindall, to celebrate the progress made on the new development.
Steven Gregory, Area director at Morgan Sindall, said: “We’re incredibly proud to be working with Alder Hey on such a transformative project, that is helping to support the local economy throughout the build programme by creating valuable jobs. The building being structurally complete is a significant milestone, and a testament to the collaborative effort of everyone involved. This facility will have a profound and lasting impact on the lives of children, young people, and their families across Liverpool and beyond, and we’re honoured to be playing a part in delivering the hospital’s vision.”
