The latest update on the physical health model can be found here.
Our community physical health services, specifically urgent care, will provide these services and will significantly improve the physical health of our service users whilst in hospital.
More information about the new model of care and the pilot can be found by contacting:
- Pat McGuinness, Associate Director of Integration, Transformation and Partnerships on Pat
.mcguinness or@merseycare.nhs.uk - Lisa Gould, Clinical Services Manager for Physical Health on Lisa
.gould @merseycare.nhs.uk
The Trust is rolling out SafeCare across our mental health inpatient units to support care delivery.
A launch event was held on 3 February 2026 at Clock View Hospital, our early adopter site and during March a number of training workshops were delivered to staff.
Look out for the new desktop icon from 17 June 2026.
What is SafeCare?
SafeCare supports erostering by providing clear visibility of staffing issues on a shift by shift basis to identify where planned versus actual staffing doesn't match required patient demand on each ward/unit.
The system uses real time data and agreed census periods for data entry at handovers to meet the needs of operational leadership, supporting managers overseeing rostering practices and bed occupancy to make informed decisions for safe and effective staffing across inpatient areas.
By incorporating SafeCare into our daily staffing processes, operational managers have oversight to ensure and evidence, that the right skill mix is in place on every shift, to help continuously improve patient safety and experience.
How SafeCare can help you?
- Match staffing levels to real time patient demand
- Record patient numbers, acuity and dependency throughout the day
- Calculate required care hours
- See live staffing levels across all wards
- Redeploy staff safely with full visibility of impact
- Track attendance and staff availability
- Request bank or agency cover when needed
- Produce safer staffing reports for internal use and CQC.
Why it matters
- Helps ward managers quickly identify staffing issues
- Supports safe, efficient redeployment
- Reduces unnecessary agency use and temporary staffing costs
- Improves patient safety by aligning staff to acuity
- Shows skill mix, missing skills, unfilled duties and charge cover
- Provides a single, real time view of staffing across the organisation.
Requests for changes to SafeCare
Please use this form to submit requests for changes to the system set up within SafeCare and email the completed form to: safecaresystem
If you have any queries about the system, or need support to complete this form, please contact the SafeCare Team: safecaresystem
SafeCare census periods and compliance windows
Further information
Find a list of FAQs here or if you have further questions, please email: Chantal
Quick reference guides
These reference guides and videos provide a training resource on the system:
- Add Professional Judgement
- Adding Red Flags to a Shift
- Attendance Monitoring
- Navigation and the Sunburst
- Patient Census Entry
Quick reference videos
Attendance monitoring
Entering acuity data
Managing attendance in a unit
Navigation
Professional judgement
Red flag events
Sunburst
Viewing sites and divisions with problems
In 2024, Mersey Care was successful in our application to form part of the NHS National Culture of Care Programme. It aims to improve the culture of inpatient mental health, learning disability and autism care for service users and staff so that they’re safe, therapeutic and equitable places to be cared for and fulfilling places to work.
Please read the presentation for an update on progress to date and find a summary of the programme at mid (one year) point.
