Session recording
UHL/LAASP
Q: Have any of the new corporate structures been costed yet, the updates haven't really been helpful as they can’t confirm any jobs or anything yet.
A: There is a phased approach to the development of Corporate Services across UHL and these are all currently at different stages. The majority of these are in what is called Discovery Phase which is about understanding how services are currently delivered across trusts and the resources used to do it. In developing the target operating model, structures will be costed. The first will be the People and OD model. This is expected by mid-September in order that we can consult from 1st October on the proposed changes.
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Q: Can we please acknowledge we are being expected to deliver services better and quicker than ever while working with a fraction of the workforce with limited resources. Something has to give.
A: We do recognise that people are working harder than ever and we are thankful for your efforts to keep services going. For corporate teams, we need to bring together teams and resize teams with clear expectations of what services we can deliver with our redesigned services.
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Q: Given concerns that the remaining trusts will join the group before the shared corporate services are established and that workloads are likely to shift or increase before any target models are implemented, what steps is the group taking to mitigate these risks and support staff who are already stretched due to the vacancy freeze and increased responsibilities?
A: The intention is that all corporate shared service functions will be established by April 2026, at the point that the LAASP Group will be formed, pending NHSE final approval.
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Q: Are ALL staff going to be consulted by the SRO's? It is the staff on the ground (from an admin perspective) who are coving the multiple jobs who are in the position to say what needs to be improved. Most of the time, managers either don't see it or don't care
A: All staff should be involved / consulted.
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Q: Should we be looking for new jobs in corporate, I am getting less assurance with each update?
A: We want to retain talent and minimise the loss of people within corporate teams.
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Q: If redundancies do have to occur, when will teams be informed? I am from one of the first teams on the list for corporate changes
A: If your post is deemed at risk, you will be informed of this at the point of formal consultation.
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Q: Has there been a date confirmed for formal consultation?
A: Each corporate function will confirm their own consultation date. It won't be one consultation for all corporate services, they will be done separately for each function.
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Q: Are those in corporate services in the later stages being disadvantaged as if placed at risk all other roles will have already been filled
A: This shouldn't be the case as we will ensure all vacant roles post restructure are offered out to LAASP teams to apply for.
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Q: For the Corporate Services work through LAASP, and bringing everyone together as one singe service, has consideration been given to parking? Where team members might be required to attend at different sites within the Group, will they be expected to pay for parking if they already pay at their home site?
A: Only colleagues enrolled on the LUH car park management system can access car parking on non-base site without paying on site. The system will issue Breach of Contract Notices if a vehicle not on the system leaves without making payment either on foot or using the car parking App. The Group is currently reviewing proposals to include all Group staff members into a single system and communications will be released regarding this in the near future.
Recruitment
Q: If you want to save money, why are MARS applications being rejected?
A: There is a strict criteria for approving MARs applications, set by NHSE. Only those applications meeting this criteria can be approved. This includes a pay back of the MARs costs within 12 months.
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Q: MARS: Will we be opening applications again ?
A: We intend to apply to NHSE to reopen the scheme again in October, however this will be dependent on agreement by NHSE for us to open the scheme.
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Q: Are there opportunities in place for Band 3 HCA to go into associate nursing?
A: Thanks for this question. Whilst this is an initiative that we would really welcome, there aren't any funds allocated to the organisation for 'replacement' or backfill costs. This means that any secondment has to come out of the current funded establishment. Consequently this is a challenge and there are currently limited opportunities. However, each site Director of Nursing will have a better oversite of their position to be able to support this. Please make contact with them.
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Q: Is the trust considering offering visa sponsorship to Band 3 HCA ?
A: Each visa sponsorship will need review so please discuss this with your line manager who will seek the appropriate support for your specific circumstances.
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Q: If we are not allowed to sponsor admin visas for anyone under a Band 6, why are we allowing applications? Causes upset to the staff member when they found that despite them being provisionally offered post, we can’t appoint them.
A: In order to ensure fairness and equality, right to work is considered post offer. This ensures that there is no discrimination within the process and conditional offers are made on skills, knowledge and experience. Right to work is individual to applicants and so all options are explored once an offer has been made.
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Q: Any relaxation to resourcing freezes for non-clinical anticipated? Additional work locally, wider LAASP collaboration and taking on some ICB responsibilities given increasing resource shortfalls is a major problem.
A: Once corporate teams are right sized and funding agreed based on new cost base, vacancies will be recruited to. For each corporate team, this will depend on where they are in the phasing timeline.
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Q: So are we now going to see more execs across the sites? But we can’t recruit an admin support? Did these posts go through the relevant vacancy control processes?
A: The formation of LCHC Hospital Leadership team will replace the existing Board for LCHC - this is a removal of Exec posts across LAASP and are approved by the ICB as the way forward for LAASP and as part of the case for change to improve services for Liverpool.
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Q: Where do outpatients sit?
A: Outpatients continue to sit under the Aintree site, however, the plan is to move the management under Corporate Services whilst the new Outpatient model for the group is developed. The transition to Corp Services is likely to be from the beginning of September 2025, we will communicate the change once the arrangements have been finalised.
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Q: Although we cannot rule out possible redundancies.' but for months we've been told there wont be any redundancies ? So is this a possibility?
A: Our intention is that there won't be any redundancies as we've been holding so many vacancies for so long. However, as an HR professional, I cannot promise that there won't be any redundancies as this is a technical element of employment law. this is why I said we can't totally rule out redundancies.
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Q: Will jobs be secure for people on maternity leave? (corporate)
A: People on maternity leave will be included in the design and consultation of new models. There should be no difference to treatment if on maternity leave.
Finance/CIP
Q: If the Trust wish to save money, it would be prudent for PC/Laptops purchased have a life span of more than 4 years, we have had several PC/laptops condemned without a clear explanation most of which circa 3 years old. There does not seem to be a rolling programme for laptops
A: Generally we support a longer life span for laptops and computers, however there may be specific factors that influenced why some computers may be replaced earlier. We do have a rolling programme for all IT equipment to ensure they meet the cyber security and windows support requirements. Please contact IT to discuss any specific concerns regarding IT equipment.
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Q: Who decided to remove the long service award for staff as part of the CIP for the trust ?
A: Long service awards were previously funded through Charitable funds. Charitable funds were no longer able to support the funding requirements. The decision to replace the current scheme by a new more frequent celebration of service scheme was made by the Executive team, supported by a staff survey which asked for more regular local thank you opportunities.
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Q: Further to the comment about the laptops - why does it cost either double or triple the cost of buying the laptop from e.g. Curry's. This would save the Trust an awful lot of money
A: We have to factor in corporate licensing and other support costs.
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Q: Potential cost saving - could there be a review of how much paper the Trust uses on average (eg using printing data?) I believe currently each directorate is ordering their own paper from supply chain, could paper be ordered centrally and directorates can "order" from stores. Could reduce the amount being ordered across the Trust, and takes the burden and long wait times off the directorate.
A: Hi - we welcome great ideas like this. We are currently working on a similar scheme to reduce paper, including the rollout of digital letters and reducing printing. We'd love to hear any more ideas.(Potential cost saving - could there be a review of how much paper the Trust uses on average (eg using printing data?) I believe currently each directorate is ordering their own paper from supply chain, could paper be ordered centrally and directorates can "order" from stores. Could reduce the amount being ordered across the Trust, and takes the burden and long wait times off the directorate.)
Health and Safety
Q: Why are staff not being asked to remove their false nails as per IPC guidance?
A: Thanks for this. They should be and so I'm not sure why this wouldn't be requested of clinical staff. Is this in specific areas? If you drop me an email (david.
Estates and Facilities
Q: I am writing to express my concerns regarding recent changes to the paid breaks and regular overtime entitlements for porters at Aintree. Having worked as a porter for 20 years, I have always taken pride in supporting the Trust and contributing to its smooth operation.
However, it has come to my attention that while porters have had paid breaks and regular overtime removed, security staff at Aintree continue to receive these benefits. This discrepancy feels unfair and suggests a lack of consistency in how policies are applied across departments. It gives the impression of double standards within the Trust’s treatment of staff.
If the Trust is permitting one group of employees to retain paid breaks and regular overtime, I believe these benefits should be offered to all departments where feasible. Consistent and fair policies help maintain staff morale and demonstrate that the Trust values all of its employees equally.
A: Estates and Facilities are implementing the wider Trust policies and terms and conditions and some historic practices are being realigned, this will be implemented consistently across all sites and disciplined as appropriate as soon as possible. Portering team members contract is a 12 hour shift and breaks during shift are ad hoc and impacted and interrupted at any time to respond to security related incidents therefore remain part of the paid working shift.
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Q: The Smoking and Vaping outside the hospital is vile, when you walk into a cloud of smoke or there's lots of staff outside or round the corner. I just think it should be a zero tolerance approach.
A: I am really sorry that this is your experience and we will look into the issue of smoking and vaping near entrances. A number of initiatives have been introduced over the years but clearly this remains a problem not just for hospitals but across other buildings which are identified as smoke-free. We all agree with zero tolerance so ideas on how the can be improved, please send through ideas so that it can be tackled collectively.
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Q: The cloud of smoke is becoming a significant problem to staff who have breathing difficulties/asthma and have to walk through it on our way to our work place.
A: I am really sorry that this is your experience and we will look into the issue of smoking and vaping near entrances. A number of initiatives have been introduced over the years but clearly this remains a problem not just for hospitals but across other buildings which are identified as smoke-free. We all agree with zero tolerance so ideas on how the can be improved, please send through ideas so that it can be tackled collectively.
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Q: Can I ask why porters do not take patients to departments on the Aintree site that are the other side of First avenue, but still on the hospital site.
A: I'm not clear what the circumstance of what is being described is however I am not aware of any changes made but will make some enquiries and feedback.
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Q: The new spikes outside the LG floor at the Royal (which I assume are supposed to stop patients/staff smoking there, please correct me if I'm wrong) are appalling. They get in the way of wheelchair users and significantly bottleneck people entering/leaving the hospital. Surely there's a better way to address the smokers. Can't we have security staff based there moving people away? Or can't we impose fines for smoking on the premises?
A: I believe the paving was in response to requests to stop smokers blocking the route to the entrance due to them blocking access to other patients including wheelchair users. This seems to have moved the issue to a less bad area but is clearly not a solution. We cannot fine people for smoking and security team do not have sufficient officers on duty to patrol entrances throughout the day.
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Q: Cleaning is being reduced significantly at non-clinical areas. Staff are being advised to hoover up, empty bins and so on themselves When all of our stakeholder teams have vacancy pressures we're already covering their gaps as well as our own. Meetings have shown that this cannot be changed - priority is for clinical areas. Surely cleanliness, availability of toilet paper etc is important - clinical or not.
A: Unfortunately due to vacancy constraints to maintain cleaning in clinical areas it has been necessary to reduce cleaning frequency and service to non clinical areas, if as a Trust we return to a balanced budget position and vacancy constraints are lifted services will be reintroduced.
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Q: Following on from previous posts, while it is correct and reasonable that hospitals should be no smoking sites, I do appreciate how difficult it is for colleagues and the trust to enforce this and it obviously isn't maintainable, through no fault of anyone in particular (we know it is impossible to police). Is it a potential fix to have a specific smoking area for patients and visitors, further down the building away from entrances? At least this will make it easier for colleagues to challenge those who do smoke in front of entrances and direct them to a place away from others where passive smoking won't be as much of an issue.
A: Smoking areas are not permitted within the NHS premises and as suggested if possible and safe to do so challenging smokers to move away from entrances.
Staff wellbeing
Q: How do we find the winning numbers for staff lottery?
A: The winning numbers will be published on the staff Facebook page and in Liverpool News - winners will be contacted directly by either phone call or email.
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Q: Why is there no quiet space, at the Royal site, to have a moment or break through the day - Everywhere is busy, sometimes I find myself sitting in a stairwell for a quiet break.
A: Please let us know where you work and I'm sure the relevant Managing Director will be able to respond as we need to find down time space for staff when needed.
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Q: I have been told that I cannot work from home because we literally don't have the equipment to allow me to do so. All I need is a laptop. I'm not a patient facing member of staff. If I work from home, you save money by me not being on site and I am able to meet my family needs and commitments, some of who have a disability. When are issues like this being addressed?
A: Working from home requests are considered by your line management, and as part of that will consider what equipment you require. IT will process approved requests, providing any additional / new IT remote working equipment/ software where requests are approved. We need to balance any additional equipment costs within our financial controls.
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Q: In light of the UK Supreme Court ruling confirming that ‘sex’ in the Equality Act refers to biological sex, the EHRC’s interim guidance on single-sex spaces, the Sandie Peggie case, and NHS England’s Annex 8 on same-sex accommodation—can the Trust confirm whether it recognises the legal and clinical need for single-sex spaces for women, both patients and staff, and how it is ensuring those needs are respected while also safeguarding the dignity and inclusion of trans colleagues? Can you guarantee if staff do raise issues that they will be listened to and the issue dealt with respectfully and not punitively as in the case of Sandie Peggie at Fife.
A: Thank you for your question. The organisation recognises the ruling of the Supreme Court and will abide by the requirements of this and any subsequent NHSE guidance) whilst maintaining the safety, dignity and privacy of our Trans colleagues and users of our services. Colleagues are requested to voice any concerns they have in a professional and compassionate manner. We all live and work together and we would want to continue to do this in a peaceful and kind manner.
General
Q: Why are the HLTs never involved in these briefings, always seems to be either LUHFT board or royal exec?
A: Hi - thanks for your question. HLTs have their own Executive Managing Director sessions which take place monthly to talk more specifically about site related items, following the broader themes on staff brief. HLT members will also join staff brief on occasion, such as today with Nat and Oliver.
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Q: Can we have a staff brief that is just Q&A?
A: We are open to receiving any questions to answer as part of staff brief, but the session is also used to also bring updates to the organisation. If there a particular theme you would want to discuss please email communications@uhliverpool.nhs.uk
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Q: Unfortunately the new LWH website is a step back due to having lost the Reachdeck accessibility tool, please advise if this will be rectified as soon as possible
A: Unfortunately there was functionality of the LWH website that meant it was reaching the end of its natural life so improvements would have been required in the near future to the wider site. Bringing it into the UHL Group site future proofs the LWH content on a more modern platform. However, we will be working on additional features in the near future including listening to feedback about accessibility features that may not have been replicated like for like.