Specialist hospital works with community partners to improve bus service in local area
Staff from The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust have been working with Arriva to improve transport links to the hospital and the surrounding area, through their membership of Liverpool Citizens.
The specialist neurosciences trust was a founding member of Liverpool Citizens (part of Citizens UK), which is a broad-based community alliance uniting diverse local organisations across education, health, housing, faith, community and charitable sectors to empower local communities to make sustainable change. Through listening to our local staff, issues with bus services in the Fazakerley area, where the hospital is located, were identified. The Trust has been leading work to address the issues and deliver improvements alongside the bus operator Arriva.
The Walton Centre's Neuromodulation Co-ordinator, Jonathan Bygroves, has been a key member of staff supporting these efforts. He said: “Over the years, getting the 62 bus to work has always been more stressful and difficult than should have been. When we began working with Liverpool Citizens, I knew this was something we could address together. My colleague Frank Burns and I quickly established that the bus route was limited and unreliable for both staff and patients, which was having a sizeable impact.”
Issues reported by staff and patients included delays, last minute cancellations, and buses too small to accommodate the number of passengers. These issues were put to Arriva at the Founding Assembly of Liverpool Citizens. After subsequent feedback sessions and discussions with Arriva were held, a number of small changes were made to the service, correcting the issues identified.
Jonathan added: “Through Liverpool Citizens, we were able to work with Arriva on the problems we were facing. In the first year we made huge strides and, I think, improved the service on offer.”
Walton Centre staff involved in Liverpool Citizens now have an ongoing relationship with the bus operator, which is leading to further improvements, in particular piloting a new version of their app, which should include better real-time information for passengers.
The Walton Centre's Chief Operating Officer Gary Price said: “It's a testament to our hardworking staff involved in Liverpool Citizens that they have been able to improve the service for our staff and patients so dramatically. Often, we complain about the things that are negatively impacting our lives, but rarely act on it, so it's excellent to see our staff working together with the community to make changes.”
The Trust's Interim Chief People Officer, Jane Mullin, added: “I am proud of the achievements of The Walton Centre staff involved in Liverpool Citizens; they have been able to influence by hard work and dedication an improvement in the service for our staff and patients.”
Tom Sunley, operations director for Arriva Merseyside said: “Working closely with The Walton Centre and Liverpool Citizens has been a brilliant example of what can happen when we all talk to each other. We've been able to respond directly to feedback and make meaningful improvements to services in the Fazakerley area for the people who rely on our services every day.
“We know how important reliable transport is for both staff and patients and these changes are already helping to make journeys simpler and more dependable. We'll continue to work together to build on this and deliver further improvements where we can so we can ensure our services support staff, patients and the wider community.”
For more information on Liverpool Citizens and the work it does, go to: https://www.citizensuk.org/chapters/liverpool-citizens/
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Notes to editors
Further information, or to arrange a visit contact: Sam Fleet, External Communications Officer, on 0151 556 3397 or email wcft.communications@nhs.net
The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust is the only hospital trust in the UK specialising in neurology, neurosurgery and pain services. Although the majority of patients come from Merseyside, Cheshire, North Wales, Lancashire and the Isle of Man, for some specialist treatments of complex disorders we see patients from all parts of the country, referred by their GPs or other neurologists, neurosurgeons and pain clinicians.
The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust was rated as 'Outstanding' by the Care Quality Commission.
For more information please visit: www.thewaltoncentre.nhs.uk or follow the Trust on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Lower Lane, Fazakerley, Liverpool L9 7LJ
0151 525 3611