Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, which covers Merseyside and parts of Lancashire and Cheshire is the latest organisation to become a member of the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA) which brings together expertise from eight other research-intensive NHS trusts and 10 universities across the North of England. 

The partnership was officially launched with an event at Mersey Care’s Maghull Health Park today (Friday June 27, 2025), where the two organisations presented their successes, opportunities for collaboration and joint vision for the future. 

The NHSA advocates on behalf of its members, builds critical mass, engages with industry, and increases the visibility of the North’s health research excellence nationally and internationally. Since joining the NHSA, the Trust’s Director of Research and Innovation, Professor Dan Joyce will be co-chairing the NHSA Northern Mental Health Network, which provides an opportunity to connect mental health research, policy, and practice across the region. 

Mersey Care is one of the most innovative and progressive NHS trusts in the country, with 11,000 people working together to provide community and mental health services to a population of more than 1.4 million across Merseyside and parts of Lancashire and Cheshire. The Trust is the largest provider of 0 to 19 services across Liverpool and Sefton, working in partnership to improve the health and wellbeing of 160,000 local children and their families, and one of only three trusts in the country delivering high secure mental health care. The Trust aims to make Liverpool a world leader in better mental healthcare from research embedded in care. 

The Trust is involved in a range of research activities and initiatives, including the development of the HOPES model, which reduces the use of long-term segregation experienced by autistic adults, adults with a learning disability and children and young people, and co-developing a learning disability clinical model and care pathway. 

Mersey Care has also co-created, with the University of Liverpool, the Mental Health Research for Innovation Centre (M-RIC), a ground-breaking research facility based in Liverpool. The centre is one of two key demonstrator sites for the National Institute for Health and Care Research Mental Health Translational Research Collaboration Mission (NIHR MH-TRC). 

Other Mersey Care-led research projects and activities include: 

• Global Centre for Research on Mental Health Inequalities: bringing together academics, clinical practitioners, patients, carers and wider public from all global regions and different research disciplines to advance research, learning, develop expertise, training, and engage and involve communities. 

• Ashworth Research Centre: a partnership between Ashworth Hospital, Mersey Care and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). It is a forensic-clinical research unit based within Ashworth Hospital and the only dedicated academic research unit in the UK that is housed within a high secure mental health hospital. 

• The Life Rooms: offering courses and support services in Walton, Southport and community venues across Liverpool, committed to building an evidence base for their work and have an active research community involving staff and service users working side by side. 

As a member of the NHSA, Mersey Care will now be able to contribute to the alliance’s programmes and expert networks in areas including mental health, child health, research and innovation, advanced therapies, diagnostics and MedTech, healthy ageing, data and AI, and Health Equity North. 

Professor Dan Joyce, Director of Research and Innovation at Mersey Care NHS FT and Co-Director of M-RIC, said: “Here at Mersey Care our goal is to lead world class research and innovation in mental health and wellbeing, so we are thrilled to have joined the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA) to support us in this. 

“Not only do we share the NHSA’s vision of benefiting the people of the North through groundbreaking health research and innovation, but we believe that their work to encourage collaboration, networking and investment amongst their members is essential in improving future health care.  

“We are excited to work alongside the NHSA to drive forward impactful and ambitious research that will make a difference.” 

Hannah Davies, Chief Executive Officer at the NHSA, said: “We are delighted to welcome Mersey Care as the latest partners in our alliance. To add a leading mental health trust to our growing membership further strengthens our networks and collaboration potential, which will benefit people across the North of England and beyond. 

“There are stark health inequalities in the North, particularly in relation to mental health, that are being felt by the most vulnerable people in our communities. I am confident that this new partnership will bring valuable opportunities to help close this gap, remove barriers to innovation and work with clinicians and researchers towards our mission to make the North a beacon of research and health equity.  

“Today’s launch event has been a fantastic start to our joint journey, and I look forward to our organisation being part of a pioneering programme of mental health innovation and transformation.”