Aspen Wood – Leaning Disability Low Secure Forensic inpatient unit – Mersey Care NHS FoundationTrust

Nominee Information

Mersey Care estates team has built 5 complex new mental health hospitals in the past 8 years, alongside managing several substantial refurbishments and an £8m annual backlog maintenance schemes over 250 sites. This has been delivered against a backdrop of economic downturn, capital restrictions, international supply issues and COVID.

In the past 8 years, the Mersey Care Estates Team has delivered: a 6-ward mental healthcare hospital in 2016 in Liverpool; a 40-bed mental health hospital in Southport (2019); and a 123-bed medium secure unit in 2020. This last build opened on time and on budget at the height of the 2020 pandemic. This year, the estates team has also delivered a 40-bed low secure unit which also opened on time and on budget and completing a centre of excellence health park which has the largest concentration of forensic psychological expertise in Europe. The team is currently managing a new build of 80 beds in Liverpool, due to open in 2025 which will end the use of domiciliary wards in Liverpool. Other recent highlights include transforming an unwanted council library into an award-winning major community hub, housing a recovery college, a working library, a community internet café and warm hub, which was opened by the Prince of Wales in 2019.

The team delivered detailed business cases for each scheme, all of which have been approved by NHSE, DHSC and HM Treasury, all complying with changing national commissioning models.

Liaison with contractors, staff, service users, carers and wider stakeholders is a demonstrable part of the estate team’s role which the team view as major business change programmes and not simply a building development. Design Champions with lived experience sit alongside expert estates leads at regular engagement events to discuss how to best create therapeutic, safe and welcoming buildings at the trust and informs estates strategy and financial modelling.

The team works closely with local stakeholders and has represented the trust at major external events, giving talks in local schools about build projects, discussing NHS employment opportunities and encouraging school leavers to consider the wide variety of jobs available.

The team has continually developed its expert skill base and ensures that learning from each scheme folds into future projects. This has helped to make Mersey Care an informed and knowledgeable client. Our team shapes the innovations we need for our wards, working with leading external providers on bespoke designs and where appropriate, within MoJ standards for secure care locks, monitoring systems and immersive therapy rooms.

Throughout the past year the team has worked tirelessly to deliver programmes in often short deadlines. The team has the confidence of the Board and a strong reputation within the Trust enabling productive working with colleagues across financial, communications and therapeutic disciplines. In this way, we are proud to be creating new hospitals in which our nurses, doctors and therapists can do their best work and which our patients can feel safe and supported on their journey to recovery.