The extra miles, town by town
Look up your town. Now look at the journey they've just handed your family in an emergency.
Look up your town on a map. Now draw a line to Southport Hospital. That's the journey they've just handed your family.
On 13 March 2026, a joint NHS committee approved moving the children's A&E from Ormskirk Hospital to Southport — 8 miles away. The hospital isn't closing. But for most of West Lancashire, the nearest children's A&E just moved further from our kids. Here's what that means, town by town.
The journey, town by town
Skelmersdale. Around 12.6 miles by road to Southport Hospital — about 21 minutes by car on a clear run. And Skelmersdale still has no train station, so a family without a car faces the 375 bus: roughly 46 minutes to an hour, each way. Local reporting has warned some residents could face emergency journeys of more than 40 minutes.
Burscough. About 9 miles and a 17-minute drive to Southport — from a village that today sits minutes from Ormskirk's children's A&E.
Ormskirk and Aughton. The A&E on your doorstep becomes an 8-mile trip along busy roads, with a poorly child in the back seat and the clock running.
And here's the part that stings: Ormskirk is 10–20 minutes closer than Southport to the specialist centres at Alder Hey, Whiston and Aintree — the places our sickest children get sent next.
Their own report told them this
This isn't just us with a road atlas. The NHS's own independent consultation report found that more respondents agreed the Ormskirk option would reduce travel difficulties than the Southport option — and that people living in West Lancashire overwhelmingly preferred keeping children's A&E at Ormskirk. Over 7,840 of us responded. Keeping Ormskirk was the most popular answer. They picked Southport anyway — after naming it their "preferred option" before the consultation even began.
We love the doctors and nurses at Ormskirk. Our fight is not with them. It's with the decision-makers who saw these journey times in their own paperwork and signed off regardless.
Minutes matter
Every parent knows the maths of an emergency. A febrile fit. A bad asthma attack. An allergic reaction. You don't get those minutes back. In late March, Lancashire County Council's health scrutiny committee voted unanimously, cross-party, to ask the Health Secretary to call this decision in. More than three months on, that request sits unanswered.
What we're asking for
The Health Secretary must formally call in this decision before any work begins. Look at the map. Look at the journey from your own front door. Then sign the petition and share this with one neighbour who hasn't seen it yet. Our kids can't add miles to an emergency — so we won't stop asking.
Spread the word — share this briefing: