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Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP) was formed in 2002 and achieved Foundation Trust status in June 2007.

We provide health and care services for local people, including mental health, autism, intellectual disability, community physical health and all-age disability care – including the provision of three GP surgeries.

Services we deliver

We deliver services across Wirral and Cheshire, as well as Trafford, Shropshire, Warrington, Bolton, Halton and Liverpool – and provide specialist services for the North West as a whole.

All these services can be accessed by autistic people - whether they are opting to see their local GP, accessing support for mental health issues or receiving specific autism diagnosis and treatment. 

CWP offers for autistic people include:

  • Autism diagnosis and goal focused interventions for mild   – severe mental health needs, including those with Intellectual Disability and Autism, or Autism and ADHD 
    (mild to moderate mental health needs are provided by Primary Mental Health/ Mental Health Support Teams with moderate to severe needs by Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services – CAMHS)
    A post-diagnostic offer for autistic children was piloted in Wirral (2022)
  • Intensive support offer for young people with Autism and/ or Intellectual Disability 
    Wirral - in place
    Cheshire - commissioned and commenced in 2022

  • Adult autism diagnosis and goal focused interventions post-diagnosis service
    For Shropshire residents only - adult autism diagnosis offer
 
  • Intensive support offer for adults with Autism and/ or Intellectual Disability
    (available through adult MH services, or through the specialist Intellectual Disability and Autism service, depending on the individual’s needs)
 
  • Community forensic support for adults with Autism and an Intellectual Disability together with an offending history

  • Ancora House adolescent inpatient unit for young people with more complex mental health needs
    Ancora serves the population of Cheshire and Merseyside

 

  • Adult non-secure inpatient services for Cheshire and Wirral adults, either
    adult mental health offer with reasonable adjustments
    or more specialist Assessment and Treatment Unit offer for people with more complex Intellectual Disability and Autism needs
    our Assessment and Treatment Units also serve the population of Greater Manchester
  • Adult low secure inpatient services for males from Cheshire and Merseyside, either
    adult mental health offer with reasonable adjustments
    or more specialist Intellectual Disability and Autism offer, depending on individual needs

CWP has over 14,727 members and employs more than 4,000 staff across 62 sites, serving a population of over 1 million people. We provide integrated care in the community and within inpatient settings based on best practice and outcomes, working closely with the people who access our services and their families and carers to provide person-centred care for all.

Regionally, CWP provides highly specialist services serving a population of 2 million people through our role in Lead Provider Collaboratives.                                                                                                          

CWP is the Lead Provider for:

  • EmpowerED – Adult Eating Disorders Services, North West Provider Collaborative.
  • Level Up - Young People and Families Tier 4 Services, Cheshire & Merseyside Provider Collaborative.                                                                                                                                            

CWP is also part of Prospect Partnership, the provider collaborative for Adult Secure Services in the North West.

NHS-Led Provider Collaboratives mark a new era for specialised mental health, building on the success of New Care Models for tertiary mental health services. NHS-Led Provider Collaboratives will deliver care closer to home, invest in community services and drive improvements in patient outcomes and experience.  

NHS-Led Provider Collaboratives are a new way of planning and providing specialist mental health, intellectual disability and autism services.  

The Provider Collaboratives aim to change the way services are provided with different organisations working closely together. This means that services will be provided closer to home and as much as possible out of hospital – supporting people with more help available within their community. Each Provider Collaborative is working with people who use these services as well as people who deliver these services to plan what needs to change or be developed in the future.  CWP will continue to work with autistic people, and other key partners, to influence, inform and progress this work.

We also aim to drive clinical best practice, education, and training through the work of CANDDID – the Centre for Autism, Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Intellectual Disability.

  • Facilitate and promote research activity amongst front line clinicians in partnership with service users and carers.
  • Create opportunities for post-graduate qualifications in intellectual disability and neuro-developmental disorders.
  • Develop and deliver training programmes.  In doing so, our intention is also to host 2 conferences each calendar year.  These are:
    • a scientific conference aimed at sharing evidence-based practice and research with clinical staff working in the fields of autism, neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disability. We offer a significant financial discount to encourage people with lived experience to attend this conference.
    • stakeholder conference aimed at bringing together people with lived experience to co-design,  co-produce and reflect on our research, education, and training activities.  This conference is free to access for anyone.
    • Both events are designed to ensure lived experience is at the heart of the work we undertake and share.

The first CANDDID Stakeholder Conference 2022