Alder Hey Through the years
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A history of care, discovery and generosity For more than a century, Alder Hey has been finding better ways to care for children. As the charity supporting this remarkable hospital and community, we’re proud to share its story so far – and the part our supporters have played and can play in shaping what comes next. From its beginnings in Liverpool to pioneering discoveries with massive international influence, this is a history shaped by children, families, staff and supporters. Through archive photographs and milestones, these pages trace how care has changed, how generosity has helped it grow, and how that legacy inspires our ambitions for the future. Presented by Alder Hey Children’s Charity. 2
1914–1948
The beginnings of children’s care In early twentieth-century Liverpool, poverty, overcrowding and infectious disease shaped children’s lives. Plans for Alder Hey recognised their need for dedicated care. In October 1914, the hospital opened its doors, initially admitting 350 children across twelve wards.
On 5 July 1948, Alder Hey became part of the new NHS – carrying its commitment to children into a new era.
During the First World War, parts of the hospital treated wounded servicemen while children’s wards continued to operate. Between the wars, children’s services developed, with a hospital school supporting learning during treatment. The Second World War brought military casualties back to the site. Children’s care continued, while university links strengthened teaching and medical expertise. 3
1944
A new treatment, a young life saved Before antibiotics, infections such as pneumonia could put a child’s life in grave danger. New treatments were beginning to change what was possible. The Trust’s history records that in 1944, penicillin was used to treat a child for the first time at Alder Hey, saving a young patient with pneumonia. For that child and their family, a developing medicine offered something extraordinary: the chance of recovery. The treatment became part of Alder Hey’s history of bringing medical advances into children’s care – a tradition that continues to inspire the research and innovation our charity supports today.
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1953
Pioneering neonatal surgery
Isabella Forshall
For babies born with conditions requiring surgery, the early days of life could be desperately uncertain. Alder Hey helped change what was possible. In 1953, the hospital established the world’s first neonatal surgical unit. Pioneering surgeons Isabella Forshall and Peter Paul Rickham brought together specialist care for newborn babies whose conditions had often previously been considered untreatable. Their work helped more babies survive and established a new approach to caring for the youngest patients. The unit’s influence reached far beyond Liverpool: surgeons travelled from around the world to learn from the team and the unit became a model for others internationally.
Peter Rickham
This was more than a landmark in Alder Hey’s history. It helped shape the future of children’s surgery.
The early neonatal unit at Alder Hey. 5
1950–1990
1989–early 2000s
A pioneering history of heart care For children born with heart conditions, Liverpool became a place of new possibilities. In 1950, one of Europe’s first centres dedicated to children’s heart surgery opened at the Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital on Myrtle Street. Its pioneering team attracted trainee surgeons from around the world, sharing knowledge that would help care reach further.
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Families and the beginnings of the charity
The service moved to Alder Hey in 1990, bringing that expertise into the hospital’s growing range of specialist care. That September, Diana, Princess of Wales opened a new cardiac unit and operating theatre. It was a significant chapter in a continuing story: finding better ways to care for children’s hearts and supporting the families beside them.
Diana, Princess of Wales opened a new cardiac unit and operating theatre at Alder Hey in September 1990.
A child’s illness affects the whole family. As Alder Hey developed, support increasingly extended beyond the ward.
In 1989, healthcare professionals and bereaved parents established the Alder Centre, recognising the need for support after the death of a child. In 1993, Ronald McDonald House opened beside the hospital, giving families somewhere to stay close to their children during treatment. Charitable support was developing too. The charity’s formal origins date to
1995, while the Rocking Horse Appeal raised funds for an oncology unit. This period also includes a deeply painful part of Alder Hey’s history. The organ retention scandal exposed serious failures of consent and communication, causing profound distress to families. Acknowledging that harm remains essential when telling the hospital’s story.
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2005–2012
2013–2016
Imagine and a new charitable identity
The Imagine Appeal drew on Liverpool’s creative heritage.
A hospital shaped by children Alder Hey in the Park welcomed its first patients in October 2015, following a century in the hospital’s original buildings.
In 2005, the Imagine Appeal launched with the support of Yoko Ono. A drawing John Lennon had made for his son Sean became part of its identity, connecting Liverpool’s creative heritage with new possibilities for children.
One milestone came in 2009, when funding from the Barclay Foundation enabled Alder Hey to introduce Europe’s very first paediatric intra-operative 3-T MRI scanner, bringing advanced imaging directly into the operating theatre.
Children and young people helped shape its design, contributing ideas about light, greenery, play and space for families.
The appeal supported research, specialist equipment and improvements to the hospital environment. Generosity could help bring pioneering ideas into practice, as well as make everyday hospital life better.
In 2012, fundraising took the name Alder Hey Children’s Charity. With a new hospital on the horizon, charitable support was becoming an increasingly important part of the next chapter.
On 1 April 2015, Alder Hey Children’s Charity became independent, with its own governance and an ongoing commitment to supporting the hospital.
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Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip officially opened Alder Hey in the Park on 22 June 2016.
Our £30 million appeal, launched in 2013, supported the ambition for equipment, facilities and research at the new Alder Hey, alongside a dedicated home for research and education. It gave supporters a part in shaping our hospital’s future.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip officially opened the new hospital on 22 June 2016 – a celebration for the children, families, staff and supporters who had helped bring this new chapter to life. 9
Imagination in care
2016–2018
A home for discovery
Throughout Alder Hey’s history, care has meant making room for childhood. Our charity carries that tradition forward in many different ways.
Better care begins with questions. Could a condition be diagnosed earlier? Could treatment be safer? What might help the next generation of children? In March 2016, the first phase of the Institute in the Park opened beside the new hospital, creating a dedicated home for research, innovation and education. It brought clinicians, researchers, educators and university partners together, keeping discovery close to the children it aims to help. Our supporters helped make this ambition possible, with charitable funding supporting the Institute’s development, including its second phase.
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Alder Play brought technology and play together, helping children explore the hospital and engage with their care. Funding from the charity, corporate partners and the Trust helped bring the app to life. Building on Alder Hey’s long history of teaching and specialist medicine, the Institute created space to investigate childhood conditions, develop treatments and share knowledge. It was an investment in discoveries with the potential to benefit children in Liverpool and around the world.
The Institute in the Park – a home for research, innovation and education, supported by charitable funding.
We also funded a 360° virtual hospital tour using Matterport technology, helping children and families explore Alder Hey before they arrive and feel more confident about their visit. From digital adventures to outdoor discovery, the approach is consistent: understanding what matters to children and finding imaginative ways to support it.
Our Urban Foraging Station took that spirit of discovery to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, winning a Silver Gilt medal. Designed by Howard and Hugh Miller and funded via Project Giving Back, the garden was then relocated outside Alder Hey’s mental health unit. Its edible plants and spaces to explore bring nature, play and learning into the care environment.
From Chelsea to Alder Hey – a garden of discovery outside the mental health unit. 11
2018 onwards
Sharing knowledge across borders The knowledge developed at Alder Hey has value far beyond Liverpool. In 2018, the Trust formally established its Department of International Child Health, building on a long history of staff working with colleagues overseas. Through partnerships, teaching and research, Alder Hey professionals share their expertise and learn from healthcare teams working in different circumstances.
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These relationships help strengthen care for children and bring new perspectives back to the hospital. Some programmes involve specialist treatment; others focus on developing skills that local teams can use long after a visit has ended. Alder Hey’s legacy lies both in the children cared for here and in the knowledge shared with others – helping better care reach further.
Working and learning together – Alder Hey’s expertise reaches beyond Liverpool.
2021
A place for care and comfort A children’s hospital’s care reaches beyond treatment. Sometimes, families need support through the hardest experience of all: the death of a child. The Alder Centre had provided bereavement support since 1989. In September 2021, it opened a new, purpose-built home on the growing Alder Hey campus. The building, funded entirely through the charity, created a welcoming place for people
affected by child loss to meet, talk and receive support. Its rooms and gardens offered space for quiet reflection as well as connection with others. This created a new home for a longstanding commitment: to listen, to offer compassion and to remain alongside families. It also expressed a wider ambition for the campus – places designed around the many different kinds of care people need.
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2022–2023
Space to feel supported The growing campus created new opportunities to bring children’s physical and mental healthcare closer together. In October 2022, the Catkin Centre welcomed services into a new home for community, mental health and outpatient care. Sunflower House followed in May 2023, providing specialist inpatient mental healthcare for children and young people. Both developments benefited from the charity’s 7in10 Mental Health Appeal. Supporters helped create surroundings where children could feel more comfortable, with spaces for therapy, family time and access to the outdoors. These buildings continued Alder Hey’s commitment to care for the whole child. Our supporters helped create welcoming surroundings that would support children and families for years to come. 14
Shirley Ballas at Catkin and Sunflower House. As an ambassador for the charity’s 7in10 Mental Health Appeal, she helped champion better mental healthcare for children and young people.
2024
A little cinema, a big milestone For generations, play, learning and creativity have helped children remain children at Alder Hey. In November 2024, that tradition gained a big screen. The new MediCinema opened with the UK premiere of Moana 2. At its opening, it was the first hospital cinema in the North West and the only one in a standalone paediatric hospital in the UK. Created through a partnership between Alder Hey Children’s
Charity, MediCinema and the Trust, it allows children to watch films in a fully equipped cinema alongside their families and with nursing support. Charitable funding helped create the cinema, and donations to our charity support its ongoing running costs, keeping screenings free.
Movie magic arrived at Alder Hey with MediCinema’s opening on 24 November 2024.
It added something special to hospital life: the chance to share an ordinary family experience, even during an extraordinary time.
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2024 onwards
Putting children first Alder Hey began in a city where poverty and poor living conditions shaped children’s health. More than a century later, tackling inequality remains part of its purpose.
That commitment also takes practical form. The charitysupported Wellbeing Hub is helping families access emotional support, benefits advice and help with financial pressures.
In September 2024, we launched Put Children First, bringing children’s voices and clinical expertise into national conversations about health. The ambition: to make children a priority and help prevent avoidable illness.
Together, these developments mark a widening of our role: supporting outstanding care while helping address the circumstances that affect children’s health. It is a new chapter with familiar roots – the belief that every child deserves the opportunity to grow up healthy and thrive.
Children and young people helping shape the conversation through Put Children First.
The latest chapter for the smallest patients Building on a pioneering history In 1953, Alder Hey helped change what was possible for newborn babies who needed surgery. The latest chapter builds on that pioneering history, with families at its heart. Through the Liverpool Neonatal Partnership, Alder Hey and Liverpool Women’s Hospital have worked together to develop a new Surgical Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, bringing specialist teams together around babies needing complex care.
Designed as a UK first, it combines family-integrated care in single-cot rooms with adjoining en-suite bedrooms for parents, allowing families to remain close and take part in their baby’s care. The ambition is both clinical and deeply human: fewer transfers between hospitals, specialist care in one place, and parents beside their baby through some of the most difficult days of family life. Designed to keep babies and their families together.
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2026–2031
What’s next? As Alder Hey has evolved, so has the charity supporting it. We now embark on a five-year strategy to grow our income, partnerships and reach, building on the generosity that has brought us this far. That growth has a purpose: to support pioneering research, specialist equipment and the experiences that make childhood possible during illness, while doing more to prevent poor health and tackle inequality. Rooted in Liverpool and the North West, our ambition reaches much further. We want discoveries and ideas supported here to benefit children across the UK and beyond – and children’s voices to help shape what comes next.
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1914-2031
Alder Hey Through the Years
1948
1950s-1980s
A new era of care
Making room for childhood
Alder Hey becomes part of the newly established National Health Service.
Education, play and acts of generosity become part of everyday hospital life, helping children continue learning and enjoying childhood during treatment.
A history of care, discovery and generosity
1914
1995
1989 The Alder Centre is established Healthcare professionals and bereaved parents establish a dedicated service supporting families following the death of a child.
A world first in neonatal surgery
Alder Hey opens in Liverpool, initially caring for 350 children across 12 wards.
Surgeons Isabella Forshall and Peter Paul Rickham establish the world’s first neonatal surgical unit, transforming care for newborn babies.
2005
The charity’s formal beginnings
The Imagine Appeal launches
The charity’s formal origins date to 1995, with fundraising initiatives including the Rocking Horse Appeal supporting specialist children’s care.
Supported by Yoko Ono and inspired by John Lennon’s artwork, the appeal raises funds for research, specialist equipment and hospital improvements.
1993 Keeping families close Ronald McDonald House opens beside Alder Hey, providing accommodation for families during their child’s treatment.
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2016
A £30 million ambition A major fundraising appeal launches to support equipment, facilities and research at the new hospital and its Research and Education Facility.
2012
2009
1953
Alder Hey opens its doors
2013
Pioneering surgical imaging
Alder Hey Children’s Charity
Charitable funding enables Alder Hey to introduce Europe’s first paediatric intra-operative 3-T MRI scanner.
Fundraising takes on the name Alder Hey Children’s Charity, marking a new chapter in charitable support.
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2021
A hospital shaped by children
A new home for the Alder Centre
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip officially open Alder Hey in the Park. The first phase of the Institute in the Park also opens, creating a dedicated home for research and innovation.
A purpose-built Alder Centre opens, funded through the charity, providing a welcoming place for bereaved families. The Surgical Neonatal Appeal also launches.
2015 A new hospital, a new chapter Alder Hey Children’s Charity becomes independent in April. In October, Alder Hey in the Park welcomes its first patients.
2018
2022
Sharing expertise worldwide Alder Hey establishes its Department of International Child Health, strengthening partnerships, teaching and research across borders.
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Supporting mental health The Catkin Centre opens, bringing community, mental health and outpatient services together, with enhancements supported by the charity’s 7in10 Mental Health Appeal.
2023
2023
Sunflower House opens
Shaping healthier futures
A new specialist inpatient mental health facility opens for children and young people, with charitable support enhancing its environment.
A new five-year strategy sets out the charity’s ambitions to grow support, fund pioneering care and research, and help more children enjoy healthier, happier and fairer future.
2024 Movie magic comes to Alder Hey MediCinema opens, giving children and families the opportunity to enjoy films together in a fully equipped hospital cinema. Putting Children First The charity launches its Put Children First campaign, championing children’s health and tackling inequalities.
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Alder Hey Through the years A history of care, discovery and generosity
1914–2031
A history still being written Alder Hey’s story belongs to generations of children, families, staff and supporters. It lives in discoveries that changed care, places that offered comfort, and acts of generosity that helped new ideas become possible. As we look ahead, our hope is simple: that more children can enjoy healthier, fairer and happier futures. Thank you for being part of the story. With your support, we are already writing the next chapter – backing discoveries, keeping families close and making room for childhood. Help shape what comes next.
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