Mersey Burns Unit faces move to Manchester

Nationally renowned Mersey Burns Unit is set to move to Manchester after it failed to make a shortlist to gain special funding.

Whiston's unit serves four million people in Merseyside, Cheshire, the Isle of Man and North Wales, meaning serious burns victims would have to travel more than 40 miles for treatment.

Union leaders and hospital sources have revealed that Whiston hospital's Mersey Burns Unit was left off a list of potential sites for a planned North West major burns centre.

Alder Hey's unit for child burns victims also failed to reach the shortlist.

The list is part of a recommendation from a long-running review of burns care in the region, but sources said the decision is not yet a "done deal."

The current burns units would in effect be downgraded while key specialists and staff would slowly take their expertise elsewhere.

Resulting in hundreds of patients, including car crash victims, people injured in house fires and those involved in chemical incidents forced to travel to Manchester or even further for treatment.

A doctor at Whiston, who did not wish to be named, said: "I work very closely with the burns unit and it has a fantastic national reputation.

"All the staff at the hospital are concerned.

"It is the thin end of the wedge. If certain services are provided elsewhere, it will de-skill staff and then they will move.

"It will slowly become a less and less important unit.

"It is of great significance to Merseyside people, who will have a further distance to travel to get essential treatment."

It is believed the shortlist consists of Wythenshawe hospital in Greater Manchester, Manchester children's hospital and Wakefield hospital in Yorkshire.

Anthony Lockhart, Unison branch secretary for St Helens and Knowsley, said: "In this area, we have a petrochemical industry and if there was to be a major incident, this would mean burns patients would have to travel further to receive vital treatment.

"There would also be a significantly longer travelling time for patients and visitors, bearing in mind burns patients often have a hospital stay of three months or more."

He added Unison would fight the recommendation.

Some MPs have expressed their concerns about the way the review has been carried out.

Halton's Derek Twigg said: "We are concerned decisions are being made without proper consultation.

"The unit is of huge importance to Merseyside and if Manchester has been decided upon already, we will fight it."

Knowsley South MP Eddie O'Hara added: "The ball is still very much in play.

"The final decision is not due until July. There is time."

Neither hospital felt it was appropriate to comment at this stage.

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