55 Schools, 18,000 Kids — One Children's A&E, Moving 8 Miles Away
West Lancashire has 55 primary schools and more than 18,000 children under 15 — and every one of them is about to lose their nearest children's A&E.
Walk any street in Ormskirk, Skelmersdale, Burscough, Aughton or Tarleton and you'll pass a primary school. There are 55 of them across West Lancashire, plus seven secondaries — a borough built, in large part, around families with young kids. Add it up and West Lancashire is home to more than 18,000 children aged 0-14. Every one of them is about to lose their nearest children's A&E.
The numbers behind the fight
According to Lancashire County Council's own Children and Young People Profile, West Lancashire has 5,510 children aged 0-4, 5,934 aged 5-9, and 6,734 aged 10-14 — a combined 18,178, based on NOMIS mid-2023 population estimates. The council's Lancashire Insight local authority profile (updated June 2026) confirms 55 primary schools and 7 secondary schools across the district, out of a total population of 122,000. Roughly one in seven of our neighbours is a child under 15.
These aren't abstract figures on a spreadsheet in a regional NHS office. They're the exact families who currently rely on Ormskirk's children's A&E — open 8am to midnight — for the broken arm at football practice, the midnight fever, the reaction nobody saw coming.
What "moving" actually means for these families
Let's be precise, because precision protects credibility here: the hospital is not closing. The children's A&E is moving to Southport, 8 miles away. For a parent driving with a frightened child at 11pm, or waiting on an ambulance, those extra miles matter. Ormskirk is currently 10 to 20 minutes closer than Southport to the specialist centres these children sometimes need — Alder Hey, Whiston and Aintree.
The consultation these 18,000 children's parents took part in
A 13-week public consultation ran from July to October 2025 and drew 7,840 responses. Keeping the children's A&E at Ormskirk was the most popular option with the public. The NHS had already named Southport its "preferred option" before the consultation opened, and kept both sites open. On 13 March 2026, a joint NHS committee approved the move anyway — a £33 million project, minimum three years, targeted for 2029.
Lancashire County Council's health scrutiny committee voted unanimously, cross-party, to ask the Health Secretary to call in that decision. West Lancashire MP Ashley Dalton has also asked for it to be reversed. Neither has had an answer.
We love the doctors and nurses at Ormskirk. Our fight isn't with them — it's with the people who had 7,840 answers in front of them and chose the one families didn't want.
What we're asking for: the Health Secretary must formally call in this decision before any work begins. 55 schools' worth of children deserve better than silence.
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