£33 Million Could Fund 770 Paramedics. It's Being Spent Moving A Door.

28 July 2026 · Save Ormskirk Children's A&E campaign

The NHS's own repair backlog is £15.9 billion and its capital budget is flatlined — yet £33 million is being spent moving our children's A&E, not fixing anything broken.

Here's a number to sit with: £33 million. That's the cost of moving our children's A&E eight miles from Ormskirk to Southport. Not improving it. Not extending its hours past midnight. Moving it.

Let's be precise, because precision is the whole fight here. Ormskirk Hospital is not closing. The children's A&E is being relocated to Southport Hospital, over a minimum of three years, targeted for 2029 — a decision a joint NHS committee signed off on 13 March 2026, after 7,840 of us responded to a consultation in which keeping it at Ormskirk was the most popular answer.

What £33 million actually buys

NHS Band 6 paramedics — the experienced, blue-light crews — are paid between £38,638 and £46,581 a year under the 2025/26 Agenda for Change pay scales, an average of around £42,500. Do the sum: £33 million would fund more than 770 experienced paramedics for a full year. Instead, it's being spent relocating a service that already works.

And this is happening at a moment when the NHS itself says every capital pound has to work harder. The government's new 10 Year Capital Plan, published on 8 July 2026, promises a "record" capital health budget rising to £15 billion by 2029/30 — but trade press reporting on the new NHS finance rules shows capital budgets have actually been cut at trusts with the largest repair backlogs, and the wider capital budget is flatlined in real terms from 2026/27 to 2028/29. The national repair backlog across NHS buildings stood at £15.9 billion in 2024/25.

So why this, and why now

Every one of those pounds is precious. NHS trusts are being told to make £33 million stretch further than ever. And yet here it is, going on a relocation the public didn't ask for, of a service that isn't broken, based on a "preferred option" that was chosen before the consultation started.

We're not against spending on the NHS — we're against spending it on undoing something that works, while wards elsewhere go without repairs and services elsewhere go without staff.

The people we don't blame

We love the doctors and nurses at Ormskirk. They've kept our children's A&E running, 8am to midnight, every single day for years. Our fight isn't with them. It's with the decision-makers who ran a consultation, didn't like the answer, and are now spending £33 million to get the answer they wanted anyway.

What we're asking for

Lancashire County Council's health scrutiny committee voted unanimously, cross-party, to ask the Health Secretary to call this decision in. Our MP has asked for it to be reversed. That request is still sitting unanswered, months on.

The ask is simple: the Health Secretary must formally call in this decision before a penny of the £33 million is spent. Sign the petition. Share this. Ask why 770 paramedics' worth of NHS money is being spent moving a door, not staffing one.

Sources: NHS Pay Calculator / NHS Employers, Agenda for Change pay scales 2025/26 — Band 6 (experienced paramedic) salary range £38,638–£46,581, average approx. £42,500.,Health Service Journal, reporting on 2026 NHS finance rules — capital budgets for repairs cut at trusts with the largest maintenance backlogs.,GOV.UK / 10 Year Capital Plan for Health and Social Care, published 8 July 2026 — record capital health budget rising to £15 billion by 2029/30, £6.75 billion over nine years pledged to repair hospitals and tackle the maintenance backlog.,The Lowdown NHS, spending review funding explainer — NHS capital budget flatlined in real terms from 2026/27 to 2028/29.,NHS England Digital, Estates Returns Information Collection (ERIC) 2024/25 — national NHS maintenance backlog estimated at £15.9 billion.

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