Women’s Services Committee Chair’s Briefing - July 2025

I’m writing this briefing following a meeting of the Women’s Services Committee on 9 July 2025, to provide you with the latest news from the Women’s Hospital Services in Liverpool programme.

The committee spent much of the meeting discussing the options process, which has been underway over the past few months. We announced this phase of work back in March 2025, when we published a report into the public engagement that took place during October and November 2024. To support the options process, two clinical engagement sessions took place during May and June, so that people who work in hospital gynaecology and maternity, and other relevant services, could come together to look at how this care might be delivered in the future. We were delighted that members of our Lived Experience Panel were also able to join the sessions, as well as colleagues from Healthwatch and some local VCFSE (voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise) organisations, all of whom provided an important contribution. The discussions that took place on both days have really helped to move the process on, bringing valuable insights into both the issues that need to be considered as we develop and refine potential options, and the criteria we use to assess these options.

A third event is planned for early September, which will involve a larger group of clinicians – who together make up the clinical reference group for the programme – joining those who took part in the first two sessions, for a recap of the work that’s taken place so far, and a chance to provide further feedback. Once this has taken place, and we have a firmer idea of potential options that might be put forward for the future, we will pause to take stock and decide what the next steps for the programme will be. This will include looking at the public involvement requirements for the next stage. However, it’s important to emphasise that at this point, no final decisions have been made about how services might look in the future. We know that many people will be keen to understand which specific proposals for gynaecology and maternity services are likely to be put forward, but it’s really important that we take time to work through the necessary process before we do this.  We’ve published a timetable for 2025 which sets out the plan we’re currently working to.

I hope this has given you a sense of how the programme has been developing. If you haven’t done so already, I’d also encourage you to sign up for our Virtual Reference Group, so that we can let you know as and when we publish any new information – we’ll aim to provide a further update in the autumn.

Best wishes

Professor Hilary Garrett CBE, Chair, Women’s Services Committee