Liverpool Women's Hospital

Liverpool Women's Hospital
NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group
Location in Liverpool Show map of Liverpool Location in Merseyside Show map of Merseyside
Geography
Location	Crown Street, Liverpool, L8 7SS
Coordinates	53°23′54″N2°57′40″W / 53.39845°N 2.96098°W / 53.39845; -2.96098
Organisation
Care system	Public NHS
Type	Specialist
Affiliated university	University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University
Services
Emergency department	No
Speciality	Obstetrics and gynaecology, Neonatology
History
Opened	1994
Links
Website	www.liverpoolwomens.nhs.uk

Liverpool Women's Hospital is a major obstetrics, gynaecology and neonatology research hospital in Liverpool, England.

It is one of several specialist hospitals located within the Liverpool City Region, alongside Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, the Walton Centre, Mersey Regional Burns and Plastic Surgery Unit and Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.

It became part of NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group on 1 November 2024. ^[1]

The hospital receives approximately 50,000 patients annually and is the largest hospital for its specialism in Europe. ^[2]

History

Liverpool Women's Hospital from the roof of Liverpool Cathedral

The hospital, which replaced the Women's Hospital in Catharine Street, the Liverpool Maternity Hospital, and Mill Road Maternity Hospital (formerly Mill Road Infirmary) in a single new building in Crown Street, ^[3] was designed by the Percy Thomas Partnership and was constructed in red brick with white cladding and light blue metal roofs. It was officially opened by Diana, Princess of Wales in November 1995. ^[4] A sculpture entitled Mother and Child was erected outside the main entrance to the hospital in 1999 by Terry McDonald. ^[5]

Liverpool Women's Hospital was investigated in 2018 as part of the investigation into the Countess of Chester Hospital baby murders, as perpetrator Lucy Letby had previously worked there. Following Letby's conviction in 2023, the police announced they would be investigating her activity at Liverpool Women's hospital as part of an overall investigation into Letby's entire career. ^{[6] [7]}

2021 attack

Main article: Liverpool Women's Hospital bombing

On 14 November 2021, police were called at approximately 11:00 a.m. UTC following reports of a car explosion. The building went into lockdown and was cordoned off by the police; a man died and another was injured. ^{[8] [9]} Counter-terrorism police lead the investigation. ^[10] The dead man was the passenger in the taxi and that the injured man was the driver. ^[11]

Hospitals merged into Liverpool Women's Hospital

• Mill Road Hospital was erected by the West Derby Union Board of Guardians as a workhouse infirmary to care for the sick poor. ^[12] It was re-named Mill Road Infirmary by 1891, ^[12] and a new nurses home was built. ^{[13] [14]} It stayed as a general hospital until after the Second World War when it became a maternity hospital called Mill Road Maternity Hospital. ^[12] This largely closed in 1993, and in 1995 it was one of the hospitals which merged to form Liverpool Women's Hospital. ^[12]

Notable staff

Senior nursing staff of Mill Road infirmary included three women who had trained at The London Hospital under Matron Eva Luckes.

• Edith Walker (1856–1929), Matron 1892 to 1896. ^{[14] [15] [16]} She trained at The London between 1881 and 1883, ^[17] and was Matron's Office assistant from 1883 to 1892. ^[18]
• Helen Cooper, Night Superintendent from 1892 to 1899. ^{[19] [20]} Cooper trained at The London between 1883 and 1885. ^[21]
• Mary Gertrude Halkett (1863–1935), Assistant Matron 1892 ^{[22] [23]} until about 1901. ^[24] Halkett trained at The London between 1889 and 1891. ^[25]

See also

• List of hospitals in England

References

1. "Hospitals agree to join a Group model to develop long-term strategy for healthcare services in Liverpool". NHS Cheshire and Merseyside. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
2. "Liverpool explosion: Three arrested under Terrorism Act after car blast at hospital". BBC News. 14 November 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
3. Pye, Ken (2011). Discover Liverpool. Liverpool: Trinity Mirror Media. p. 10. ISBN   978-1-906802-90-5.
4. "Diana, Princess of Wales opens Liverpool Women's Hospital". Liverpool Echo. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
5. Pollard, Richard; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2006). Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West. The Buildings of England. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 373. ISBN   0-300-10910-5.
6. Parveen, Nazia; Halliday, Josh (4 July 2018). "Cheshire baby deaths: police widen inquiry to second hospital". The Guardian . Retrieved 5 July 2018.
7. "How the police caught Lucy Letby". Sky News. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
8. "Liverpool Women's Hospital: One dead in car explosion outside hospital". BBC News. 14 November 2021.
9. "Counter-terror police arrest three men over deadly car blast - live". The Independent. 14 November 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
10. Brown, David; Wace, Charlotte (14 November 2021). "Man dies after taxi explodes outside Liverpool Women's Hospital". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 14 November 2021.
11. "Liverpool Women's Hospital: Three terror arrests after explosion kills one person and injures another". Sky News.
12. "Mill Road Maternity Hospital". The National Archives. 1 July 2024.{{cite web}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)
13. Rogers, Sarah (2022). 'A Maker of Matrons'? A study of Eva Lückes's influence on a generation of nurse leaders:1880–1919' (Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Huddersfield, April 2022)
14. Eva Lückes to Florence Nightingale, London Hospital, E., 9, October 1892; The Nightingale Papers; Add MS 47746, ff.125–128; British Library, London.
15. Matrons Annual Letter, No.1, Matron's Annual Letter to Nurses, 1894–1916; RLHLH/N/7/2, No.1, May 1894, 9; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
16. "Appointments". The Hospital . 20 (501): xlii. 2 May 1896 – via www.rcn.org.
17. Edith Walker, Register of Probationers; RLHLH/N/1/1, 25; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
18. Edith Walker, Register of Sisters and Nurses; RLHLH/N/4/1, 78; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
19. Matrons Annual Letter, No.1, Matron's Annual Letter to Nurses, 1894–1916; RLHLH/N/7/2, No.1, May 1894, 10; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
20. Matrons Annual Letter to Nurses, No.6, Matron's Annual Letter to Nurses, 1894–1916; RLHLH/N/7/2, No.6, March 1899, 21; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
21. Helen Cooper, Register of Probationers; RLHLH/N/1/1, 148; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London
22. Margaret Gellie Halkett, Register of Sisters and Nurses; RLHLH/N/4/1, 119; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London.
23. "Minor Appointments". The Hospital . 13 (334): cli. 18 February 1893.
24. "'The Overseas Nursing Association". Nursing Notes . xxv: 56–57. February 1912.
25. Margaret Gellie Halkett, Register of Probationers; RLHLH/N/1/3, 97; Barts Health NHS Trust Archives and Museums, London

External links

• Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
• Media related to Liverpool Women's Hospital at Wikimedia Commons