Publish date: 22 October 2021
Our Trust and Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust have agreed the lease of Woodview. Work to refurbish Woodview will begin in the next few weeks and is expected to take about a year. Contractors Kier will soon be erecting safety hoardings. As we know, the Whalley site cannot be used for learning disability services and Woodview will, over the course of the next year, be fitted out for adult mental health care. As I have set out in previous emails, the two trusts have been in discussions about keeping the Whalley site in the NHS family. It’s only now that we’ve made this arrangement formally, with the agreement confirmed on 13 October and we are all focussed on making sure clear and consistent messages are shared jointly.
As soon as I can, I will set out what this means for the rest of the site. Any wider plans will subject to business cases and agreements by our two trusts’ boards, which will come no earlier than February 2022. I will keep you informed.
In the meantime, we continue to support all our services in Whalley. Plans are in place for a remembrance parade on 6 November and there will be events in the community next spring to mark the Jubilee. Importantly, we have a job to do with our service users. You can assure them that continuity of care is our main concern, staff will be supported, kept informed and listened to. As we continue work on new low secure services in Maghull, our new colleagues from Lancashire and South Cumbria are welcome here and allow us to demonstrate that commitment to Whalley as an NHS site.
Thank you.
Julia Musker
Head of Service