The chair of Alder Hey hospital’s board has issued an apology for the “frustration and anger” caused as the local community waits for green space to be handed back.
Almost eight years ago, the specialist children’s hospital opened its new healthcare campus on land within Springfield Park resulting in green space being lost in the community. As part of a land exchange agreement with Liverpool Council made in 2012, Alder Hey is obligated to return 9.4 hectares of land back to council ownership, with one phase already completed.
Dame Jo Williams, chair of the Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust board, said she recognised it had been a “long and extended period of time” for the full park to be handed back to the community. John Grinnell, deputy CEO and finance director at Alder Hey, outlined progress on the project to date.
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He said the hospital will continue to manage the first phase of the park handed back to Liverpool Council until April, with a further two areas to be given back to the local authority by November. The current temporary car park on site has been reduced to around 40 spaces and is due for removal next month, Mr Grinnell said.
He added how work is ongoing around new pitches and play facilities on site, which are expected to be completed by summer. The hospital’s old Catkin outpatient centre has now been decommissioned and is being prepared for demolition, which the deputy CEO said was the “last piece of the jigsaw” to allow the project to move at pace.
However, it is expected the hospital’s old histopathology unit, which cuts through the park, could remain in place for a further year after the site is handed back, owing to its designation as a site office for neonatal building works. Mr Grinnell said it would not have any impact on the green space.
The first phase, completed in October last year, returned 1.8 hectares to Liverpool Council ownership with the second and third phases involving a multi use games area, football pitches and additional foliage and trees. A report seen by the LDRS revealed how the existing play area and substation situated at the park, which a Friends of Springfield Park group had hoped would remain, must be knocked down at the behest of Liverpool Council.
Mr Grinnell said a forum was needed for conversations with the community and the hospital had a “full commitment” to return the park as soon as possible. Dame Jo said: “I can hear the frustration and anger in terms of what’s happened.
“I do recognise it’s been a long and extended period of time. Nevertheless, I can understand how frustrating it can be, I am sorry that has happened.”
“Make no mistake, we know this is Liverpool Council’s and the community’s park. We want to work with local people to make a place where all generations can have a safe and nice place to be.”
The meeting also heard how Alder Hey dealt with the challenges posed by industrial action staged by nurses earlier this month. Chief nurse Nathan Askew said around 1,000 of the hospital’s 1,100 nurses took part, meaning “around 23-30%” of staff were available.
Some 1,200 appointments and 86 elective surgeries were rescheduled, he said, with many now completed. Mr Askew said it had been a “real challenge” for Alder Hey but the hospital had a “good working relationship” with the Royal College of Nurses.
Dame Jo said she hoped both sides would be able to reach an amicable offer which would “enable staff to concentrate on what they want to do most of all, which is look after the children and young people who need their support.”
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