The King’s New Years Honours list has recognised one of the most accomplished figures in Merseyside medical community. Trish Bennet, the CEO of Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, has been awarded an MBE for recognition for her services to the patients of Liverpool and surrounding areas.
This high honour acknowledges a career spanning more than 40 years across community and mental health services for people of all ages. While Ms Bennett has progressed into senior and strategic leadership roles, her professional focus has remained rooted in nursing and direct patient care.
“I’ve loved my whole career in the NHS, both as a Chief Executive and as a nurse, which remains close to my heart and I’m immensely proud to be recognised in this way,” she said.
“I don’t see this as an individual award but one that recognises the strength of our whole community at Mersey Care. Working alongside people dedicated to caring for our patients and service users is an ongoing inspiration.”
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Trish Bennett held the role of Chief Nurse and led the redeployment and mobilisation of teams to maintain patient safety.
Her leadership extended beyond Mersey Care, contributing to system wide initiatives, providing mutual aid to other Trusts, and taking on a strategic leadership role within the Out of Hospital Cell for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside.
Before her appointment as Chief Executive Officer, she served as Executive Chief Nurse and Director of Operations. In these roles, she led work to integrate community and mental health services across the Liverpool region, with the aim of delivering safe and effective care closer to patients’ homes and reducing reliance on hospital settings.
Under her clinical leadership, Mersey Care has also developed the country’s most extensive telehealth service. This programme has introduced new ways of working across the NHS and has been designed to respond to the needs of a growing and ageing population.
Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust delivers community, mental health and physical health services across North West England and beyond. It provides specialist mental health inpatient services and a range of community services for six of the seven councils within the Liverpool City Region, covering Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton and Warrington.
Clinical services are delivered from more than 170 sites across the North West, supported by a corporate team based at Kings Business Park in Prescot. The Trust employs more than 10,000 staff and serves a population of over 1.4 million people. It also provides secure mental health services for the North West of England, the West Midlands and Wales, alongside specialist learning disability services across Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside.
During 2024 to 2025, Mersey Care provided care and support to 89,744 service users and received 384,313 distinct referrals within its community services. Services were delivered from 373 sites, supported by 958 inpatient beds, with more than 3.1 million outpatient attendances, community contacts or domiciliary visits recorded.
Ms Bennet was quite clear about the central motivation of all activities that lead to this honour, saying “Caring for patients, is at the heart of everything I’ve ever done.”
