On 1 November 2024, we became NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group (UHL Group).

It’s an exciting step forward and example of how our system can work more collaboratively for the benefit of our patients and their families – shaping the future of health and care within our city region.

About the Group

We operate from five hospital sites: Aintree University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, Liverpool Women’s Hospital and the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, alongside a host of community services.

We are one of the largest employers in region, with over 18,900 colleagues who are dedicated to caring for our communities - from birth and beyond.

We have one Group Board of Directors, and alongside an Executive Managing Director and Hospital Leadership Team across each of our sites. Each Executive Managing Director is a voting member of the Group Board, which ensures our sites retain their identity, voice, and influence at board-level.

Through the Group model, LUHFT, LHCH and LWH remain three statutory entities. Because of this, some things remain the same. Examples of these retained functions include separate Council of Governors, several committees (such as charitable funds), and our CQC ratings. Clinical services and how our patients access our services also remain the same.

However, in many aspects we are working as one. This does not mean everything becomes standardised because we offer different services, but where possible we will be taking a unified approach.

Benefits of the Group

Our individual hospitals will retain their own unique identities, cultures and strengths.

We have outstanding, expert and caring staff who deliver their best every day. Our reputations help us attract and retain talent from across the globe, as well as our local communities.

And we can be even stronger together as one Group that values each member equally

  • We can develop a shared strategy and clear vision for how clinical services are delivered, focusing on what makes most sense now and for the future.
  • We can make clinical pathways – including complex diagnostic testing and lab analysis – smoother by reducing duplication and referrals between different hospitals. This will benefit patients and staff.
  • Our scale as one combined Group will make us a highly attractive proposition for research and innovation and income-generating opportunities. It will strengthen our hand in negotiations with suppliers and potential partners.
  • We can achieve the greatest benefit from our individual strengths and talents – for example, by building on the commercial, research or educational successes in one hospital so they can be offered across the Group.
  • It will help us develop a shared electronic patient record and greater digital integration, making it easier for clinical teams to access the information they need without delays. Patients won’t need to have duplicate tests or reshare their details at different hospitals because clinicians will have access to their records.
  • We can deliver corporate and support services more effectively, efficiently and resiliently by working as one team, with some shared Group-wide roles and appropriate local site-based roles.
  • Staff education, training and career progression will be greater as one Group. The Group will provide opportunities for staff to move between hospitals when they want to change roles or broaden their experience

New templates

We have created some new templates to represent UHL Group.

You can access a new set of UHL Group templates, such as branded Word and PowerPoint documents, on the Communications Hub.

We understand that our trust logos and brand colours will still be visible on a lot of documents and visuals that we use.

We’d like to reassure colleagues that this is ok, there is no expectation to immediately replace all documents. However, where possible, particularly when representing the organisation externally, new UHL Group templates should be used, which feature our new Group logo.