For journalists
We make it easy for journalists to cover this story accurately. Everything below is on the record and free to use. For interviews, comment or the campaign's response to developments, contact us any time.
Contact
Campaign media contact: press@saveormskirkhospital.com
We aim to respond the same day and can arrange spokespeople, including local parents and the campaign founder.
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A one-page, print-ready summary of the campaign and the verified facts.
Download key-facts one-pager (PDF)Quote-ready lines
"The NHS asked West Lancashire a question, got an answer it didn't like, and ignored it. That's not consultation — it's theatre."
"Keeping the children's A&E at Ormskirk was the most popular option in the consultation. It still lost. Local people are entitled to ask what the point of asking was."
"This is a fight with decision-makers, not with staff. The doctors and nurses at Ormskirk are extraordinary. The people who overruled 7,840 residents are the problem."
"Ormskirk is 10 to 20 minutes closer than Southport to the specialist centres where the sickest children go. In an emergency, minutes are everything. Moving the front door further away is the opposite of safer."
"Every party on Lancashire's health scrutiny committee voted to call this in. That request has never been answered. We're simply asking the government to pick it up."
The verified facts
- On 13 March 2026, a joint committee of NHS Lancashire & South Cumbria and NHS Cheshire & Merseyside ICBs approved moving the children's A&E from Ormskirk Hospital to Southport Hospital, 8 miles away.
- The move is costed at £33 million and will take a minimum of three years, targeted for 2029.
- A 13-week public consultation (July–October 2025) drew more than 7,840 responses. Keeping the service at Ormskirk was the most popular option.
- The NHS named Southport as its 'preferred option' before the consultation began. Keeping both sites was ruled out beforehand.
- In late March 2026, Lancashire County Council's health scrutiny committee unanimously (cross-party) asked the Health Secretary to call in the decision. West Lancashire MP Ashley Dalton also asked for it to be reversed.
- That call-in request remains unanswered. Ormskirk's children's A&E currently operates 8am–midnight, reduced since 2020.
- Ormskirk is 10–20 minutes closer than Southport to specialist centres at Alder Hey, Whiston and Aintree.
All figures are drawn from the NHS consultation and the public record. Please attribute to "the Save Ormskirk Children's A&E campaign."