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

Our group of hospitals provide acute and specialist care to the people of Merseyside and beyond. It was created through the coming together of Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LUHFT) and Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust (LWH).

We have one Group Board of Directors, and alongside an Executive Managing Director and Hospital Leadership Team at each of our sites: Aintree University Hospital, Liverpool Women’s Hospital and the Royal Liverpool University Hospital (also manages Broadgreen Hospital). 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 and LWH remain two 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 now starting to work as one. This does not mean everything becomes standardised because we offer different services, but where possible we will be taking a unified approach.

UHL Group will continue to expand to better meet the needs of our patients, with all the organisations within the Liverpool Adult Acute and Specialist Providers (LAASP) Joint Committee joining the Group.

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

Revised timeline for forming UHL Group

Our reasons for becoming a Group have not changed – over the last few months, though it has become clear that we can, and should, now accelerate our plans by bringing all five organisations into the new Group over the course of 2025/26, rather than over several years.

The new timeline for the others to join is expected to be:

  • Q2 (by Sep 2025): Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital
  • Q3 (by Dec 2025): The Walton Centre
  • Q4 (by Mar 2026): The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.

From April 2026, the Hospital Management Boards (HMBs) will comprise:

  • Aintree and The Walton Centre 
  • Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital and Broadgreen
  • The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre and Diagnostics
  • Royal Liverpool (including the Dental Hospital)
  • Liverpool Women’s Hospital – this may be amended in future to reflect any recommendations from NHS Cheshire and Merseyside’s current review of maternity and gynaecology services in Liverpool.

Additional information, FAQs and new templates

Over the coming months, together we will develop how we all work in these new arrangements. This will include establishing a new vision, values and a Group corporate strategy.

We have produced this guide to give you some practical information about UHLG, and have developed FAQs to answer common questions you may have.

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 the LUHFT logo, ribbon 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 UHLG templates should be used, which feature our new Group logo.

Digital update

There has been a number of significant digital improvements to support cross-site working between Aintree, Broadgreen, LCL, Liverpool Women’s and the Royal Liverpool.

These updates are part of an ongoing effort to make it easier for colleagues to work together, share resources, and stay connected across sites.

The Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust website has become the University Hospitals of Liverpool Group website. 

This means that our URL has changed to www.UHLiverpool.nhs.uk.

Our social media platforms have also been renamed to reflect the Group. The new handles are as follows:

  • Facebook: facebook.com/nhsUHLG
  • X (Twitter): @nhsUHLG
  • Instagram: @liverpoolhospitals

Whilst we develop how we all work in these new arrangements; Liverpool Women’s Hospital will retain their own website and social media platforms.

 

Wi-Fi:

  • Colleagues will be able to access and connect to Wi-Fi across all sites using their existing credentials, no matter if their laptop is a LWH or LUHFT device

 

Enhanced Office 365 integration:

  • Microsoft Teams: Colleagues can now see Teams presence and message staff from all sites
  • Simplified document sharing: You can now easily share documents and collaborate with all colleagues
  • Easier Teams group setup: Creating Teams groups that include colleagues from different sites is now more straightforward, improving project coordination.

 

Enhanced email and calendar capabilities:

  • Improved contact search: Easily find and communicate with colleagues from within Outlook
  • Shared calendar access: Schedule meetings and manage appointments more easily with shared calendar visibility across all sites.

 

For most colleagues, no action is needed at this time. These changes will be applied automatically. Should you experience any issues with Wi-Fi access, Office 365 tools, email/calendar functionality, or network drives, please reach out to the IT service desk.

In addition to these improvements, we are currently reviewing access to clinical and corporate applications, shared file and folder access, and workstation logins across all our sites. This review will help further streamline access and ensure that colleagues have what they need to work efficiently and securely. Additional updates will be provided as these reviews progress.

Next steps

We are committed to keeping you fully updated:

  • Senior leaders have been asked to brief their teams and to address any questions or issues colleagues will have from this latest update and the overall UHL Group: Stronger Together programme.
  • Appointments to Group Board and Hospital Leadership Team positions will be shared with all colleagues at the earliest opportunity.
  • UHL Group: Stronger Together programme – regular updates on the progress of the programme on the development of the group and its work programme will be shared with all colleagues.