Previous message of 6 July 2023
Sent on behalf of Steve Newton, Divisional Director, Secure Care
Dear colleagues,
Further to my email to you all last Friday, I wanted to update you on some recent information relating to our Whalley site.
We are currently reviewing the necessary next steps for staff transferring from Whalley to Maghull through ‘clearing house principles’ to our partner organisations and will share our updated transition plans with you as soon as we can.
I know several colleagues will have questions about the details of the transfer and I wanted you to be the first to know that there is currently a delay in this process, due to a number of internal and external factors, focussing around four areas. Firstly: Estates, due to subcontractor availability on site, the planned handover of Aspen Wood has been slightly delayed. We will obviously only accept handover from our builders once we are happy that the new building is ready and perfect for our staff and our service users. Secondly there has been a delay in the transition work for our Out of Area IPC. Thirdly we do not yet have a full workforce complement in place for the safe running of Aspen Wood, LSU. Lastly, the Division has also learned from the opening of Rowan View, in that opening a unit during the Christmas period is less than ideal for patients or staff.
With the above contributing factors in mind, we have now taken the decision that the retraction of the Whalley site will unfortunately not happen this calendar year and a new date is currently being considered. I apologise for this unavoidable delay, but the decision to delay is the right one for both our staff and our patients. We will continue to work through the internal and external factors described above and when we can we share clearer timescales and more information we will ensure that these are communicated with you as soon as possible.
Your questions have all been noted and will be answered as soon as we have all the information required to respond fully.
Thank you for your patience and your continued support.
Regards, Steve Newton, Divisional Director Secure Care