Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

What Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust does

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is a public benefit corporation and one of the largest NHS mental health and community services providers in England, delivering specialist inpatient and community services across physical health, mental health, learning disability, addiction, brain injury and secure care. Headquartered in Prescot, the trust employs approximately 11,000 staff serving a population of more than 1.4 million across over 200 sites spanning Merseyside and parts of Lancashire and Cheshire. It is one of only three NHS trusts in England providing high secure mental health care (via Ashworth Hospital) and holds Lead Provider status for the PROSPECT Adult Secure Care Collaborative with a devolved £56m NHS England commissioning budget.

The trust's core service portfolio is organised into three divisions (Community Care, Mental Health Care, and Secure Care) and includes NHS Talking Therapies, CAMHS, addiction and dental services, community nursing, urgent treatment and walk-in centres, virtual wards and remote clinical monitoring serving more than 2,000 patients daily, and a portfolio of secure inpatient facilities. Its underlying technology stack is built around NHS Global Digital Exemplar status, Telehealth platforms, virtual wards, the ORCHA mental health app directory, the Health Visitor Portal, and the M-RIC research partnership with the University of Liverpool, which creates a 'learning system' where treatments improve through use, study and refinement.

As an NHS Foundation Trust, Mersey Care is funded almost entirely through UK government healthcare commissioning. NHS England commissions specialised mental health services (including the £56m PROSPECT budget), and NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board commissions community and mental health services. Services are free at the point of use under the NHS model, so there is no direct consumer pricing. Distribution channels include NHS 111 mental health option, GP and professional referrals, self-referral for Talking Therapies, walk-in centres, and digital/telehealth access. The trust has no external shareholders and is governed by a board of directors and council of governors, operating independently within the NHS system and accountable to the Care Quality Commission, which has rated it 'Good' overall.

Name

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Legal name

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust

Website

https://merseycare.nhs.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS public benefit corporation employing around 11,000 staff to deliver mental health, learning disability, community health, secure care and addiction services across more than 200 sites in Merseyside and parts of Lancashire and Cheshire, serving a population of over 1.4 million.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mental Health and Community Healthcare Services

NAICS

Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Hospitals (6222), Offices of Physicians, Mental Health Specialists (621112), Offices of Mental Health Practitioners (except Physicians) (621330), Individual and Family Services (6241)

SIC

Services-Hospitals (8060), Services-Health Services (8000), Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Safety-Net & Public Hospitals (HLAFAAAD)

Keywords

• Mental health services
• Community health services
• Secure care services
• Learning disability services
• Talking therapies

Headquarters

HQ city

Prescot

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices11 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. NHS Public Healthcare Services: As an NHS Foundation Trust, services are funded through the UK National Health Service budget allocation from government. Services are free at point of use for UK residents, funded through general taxation. Revenue comes from NHS England and NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB commissioning arrangements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust delivers specialist inpatient and community services across physical and mental health, learning disability, addiction, brain injury, secure and forensic care. The Trust operates over 200 sites across North West England, serving a population of more than 1.4 million, with 11,000 staff including doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, and support staff. Services are free at point of use to UK residents and funded through NHS commissioning from NHS England and NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB.

Product overview

Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust operates as a multi-service NHS trust offering specialist inpatient and community services for physical health, mental health, learning disability, addiction, and brain injury care. The Trust's portfolio includes core services (NHS Talking Therapies, Community Health Services), digital platforms (Health Visitor Portal, ORCHA Mental Health App Directory, Telehealth, Virtual Wards), specialist services (Secure Care, CAMHS, Learning Disability Services, Addiction Services, Dental Services), and research initiatives (M-RIC). The Trust is organized into three main divisions: Community Care Division, Mental Health Care Division, and Secure Care Division, serving a population of more than 1.4 million across Merseyside and parts of Lancashire and Cheshire.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• NHS Talking Therapies

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 2,000 people cared for at home daily through virtual wards and remote monitoring
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS TrustcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2026Partnership from 1 July 2026 to deliver community health services across West Lancashire. New era for community care bringing together both trusts to improve local services.
• Northumbria UniversityminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 29 April 2026Hosting 'Culture in Conversation: Rethinking Leadership & Organisational Practice' event on April 29 in Newcastle exploring workplace culture and leadership development.
• University of LiverpoolcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Partnership with University of Liverpool to launch M-RIC (Mental Health Research for Innovation Centre) in 2023, backed by £10.5m government funding. Creates world-first 'learning system' where treatments improve through use, study and refinement. Focus on under-researched areas including early intervention in psychosis, depression and children and young people's mental health.
• Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2021Partner in PROSPECT Lead Provider Collaborative for Adult Secure Care. CWP provides low secure and forensic support services. PROSPECT has £56m NHS England commissioning budget with focus on women's secure pathway transformation, HOPE(S) pilot, learning disability/autism plan, and quality improvement initiatives.
• Elysium Health CarecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2021Partner in PROSPECT Lead Provider Collaborative for Adult Secure Care. Elysium provides low and medium secure mental health services (Arbury Court, Gateway) and low/medium secure ABI services (St Mary's). Collaborative covers Cheshire and Merseyside with weighted population of circa 2.5 million.
• NHS EnglandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNHS England commissions specialised mental health services and has devolved £56m commissioning budget to Mersey Care as Lead Provider in PROSPECT Collaborative for Cheshire and Merseyside Adult Secure Care.
• NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICBcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIntegrated Care Board commissioning community and mental health services from Mersey Care across the Cheshire and Merseyside region.
• Zero Suicide AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMersey Care is founding member of Zero Suicide Alliance, a collaboration committed to preventing suicide. Alliance develops free suicide prevention training accessible to all.
• Care Quality Commission (CQC)coreOthersRegulatory body overseeing NHS trusts. Mersey Care maintains CQC 'Good' rating. Services reviewed against CQC's five key questions: safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well led.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust: Large NHS Foundation Trust with a similar mix of mental health, community health and secure services. Comparable in scale (~10,000+ staff) and breadth of services, though serving a different region.
• Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust: Large North West mental health NHS Foundation Trust providing inpatient, community, secure and specialist services across Greater Manchester — comparable scale and operating model to Mersey Care.
• Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust: One of the other two high secure mental health providers nationally (Rampton). Closest functional peer for forensic and high secure services, with comparable integrated mental health, LD and community service lines.
• Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust: North West mental health and community services trust serving Greater Manchester boroughs. Same operating context (NHS commissioning, integrated mental health + community) though without Mersey Care's high secure and large-scale virtual ward capability.
• Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust: East of England mental health NHS trust providing inpatient, community and specialist services. Comparable operating model to Mersey Care with a similar CQC-regulated, ICB-commissioned model.
• West London NHS Trust: The third NHS high secure mental health provider in England (Broadmoor). Direct peer in forensic/secure services and broader integrated mental health provision.
• Elysium Healthcare: Independent sector mental health provider, particularly in secure care. Listed as a direct PROSPECT partner providing low/medium secure services; one of the most relevant private-sector comparables for Mersey Care's secure care division.
• Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust: Mental health and learning disability NHS Foundation Trust operating across Sussex. Comparable mental health + LD service mix and integrated NHS operating model.
• Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust: Adjacent North West NHS trust providing mental health, LD and community services. Geographic and demographic overlap with Mersey Care's Lancashire catchment.
• Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP): Neighbouring NHS mental health and community services trust and explicit PROSPECT collaborative partner. Closest direct peer: similar patient population, similar service mix (mental health, LD, community) and overlapping Cheshire & Merseyside footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Mersey_Care
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/MerseyCareNHSTrust
• Facebookfacebook.com/MerseyCareNHSFoundationTrust
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/1229916
• Instagraminstagram.com/merseycarenhsft

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust