A Merseyside NHS Trust could be one of the first in the region to join forces with GPs to provide out-of-hospital care and reduce more of the pressures on A&E and other acute services.

This is just one of the options which Liverpool Community Health (LCH) NHS Trust is going to explore this year after receiving support from the NHS centrally to withdraw from its bid to become a Foundation Trust.

The decision means the Trust and its partners can now look at a new way of organising NHS community services that are more joined-up and able to keep pace with the changing health needs of the area’s population.

LCH is already improving the way it works and is on course to complete the recruitment of almost 100 extra district nurses by April.

The approach is all part of an overarching plan to empower nurses, doctors, therapists and other health professionals to work together as joined-up teams in neighbourhoods across Liverpool and Sefton – supporting patients to receive the care they need, closer to home.

This latest step now enables the Trust to make sure the way it organises itself in the future helps frontline health professionals to support increasing numbers of people with multiple long-term health conditions, not just single diseases.

Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust’s Medical Director, Dr Craig Gradden, said:

“In October the NHS published its plans for the next five years.

“One option included in the plan will permit groups of GPs to combine with nurses, other community health services and hospital specialists to create integrated out-of-hospital care.

“This is one possibility that we will be exploring along with a range of others this year as we continue to empower district nurses, doctors and other health professionals to deliver and shape local health services closer to where people live in Liverpool and South Sefton.”