Our strategy

Our Strategy 2023-2025

The Trust has three key strategic aims of Quality, People and Sustainability, which have been refined to reflect the changing landscape in which the NHS operates.

The strategy was originally planned to run from 2023 to 2025 but was extended to support a focus on the integration of hospital and community services and the coming together of Bridgewater Community Healthcare and Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals as North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust in April 2026. 

To ensure that the strategy remains valid, relevant and supports the Trust to achieve its three strategic aims, a review of the strategic objectives, priorities, measures of success and the strategic content of the 2023 to 2025 document has been carried out. The updates and additions to the objectives and priorities are detailed within an addendum to the Trust strategy. 

Our aims and objectives

Quality: We will always put our patients first, delivering safe and effective care and an excellent patient experience

People: We will be the best place to work, with a diverse and engaged workforce that is fit for now and the future

Sustainability: We will work in partnership with others to achieve social and economic wellbeing in our communities

We have 12 strategic objectives to progress which support our three strategic aims.

Read the full strategy document [PDF 3MB] to find out more about our objectives.

If you require this document in a different format please email ncm.communications@nhs.net

Developing our estate to support quality healthcare

We have agreed a strategic direction for the development of our estate and buildings, to support the future delivery of strong and sustainable healthcare services for communities in Halton and Warrington.

We have been considering alternative ways to ensure that services are delivered from accommodation of a high standard that makes good use of community and hospital-based accomodation.

Large parts of our ageing estate are in need of significant modernisation and we have been clear that we would need to develop alternative plans to support the evolving healthcare needs of our communities and tackle inequalities in access to healthcare.

Our Trust Board has signed up to the following principles for the development of our estate. We will:

• make the best use of our hospital sites so that:
  • space at Warrington Hospital is protected for the care of patients with the most urgent, complex and serious medical conditions
  • space at Halton Hospital is used effectively to support the delivery of effective diagnostics and as a centre for planned surgery and procedures
• continue our focus on developing facilities within our communities in both Halton and Warrington from which we can provide more routine care and appointments
• provide modern accommodation for staff and services, which removes the need to house staff and services in ageing buildings where significant investment and repair are required.

Our approach is aligned to one of the three shifts in the national 10-Year Health Plan for the NHS – moving care from hospitals to communities. Our strategy aims to deliver more care as close to patients’ homes as possible - from clinics, health centres and health hubs. Local venues are often better served by public transport and parking facilities and can help to remove some of the barriers which prevent people from accessing healthcare (e.g. cost, distance, public transport availability). 

We have already successfully introduced this approach with recent developments including Halton Health Hub (located in Shopping City, Runcorn) and the Living Well Hub (located in Warrington town centre) allowing our staff to deliver more services in the community and away from our main hospital sites.

We have also continued to support investment in our hospital estate in recent years, developing enhancements including a new diagnostic centre at Halton, new MRI centre and Same Day Emergency Centre at Warrington.

Our plans for the future also reflect a more co-ordinated approach to using public facilities across the wider health and care system in Halton and Warrington and other communities we serve, supporting greater integration between hospital and community services as we move forward as North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust (NCM) from 1 April 2026. 

The proposals we have agreed reflect a high-level plan, with any further detail requiring development and plans being subject to internal and external review and scrutiny. Any proposals for significant changes to how and where services are delivered would be developed in partnership with staff, patients and communities through an ongoing programme of engagement and consultation.

For more information or for any queries, please contact ncm.engagement@nhs.net