"The deeper scars" of a terror attack that rocked the city remain at Liverpool Women's Hospital.
It's almost a year since Emad Al Swealmeen pulled up in a Delta taxi outside the maternity hospital's entrance and set off a bomb at 10.59am on Remembrance Sunday. Al Swealmeen died when his homemade explosive containing 1,000 ball bearings went off in the back of the car and shattered the windscreen.
The taxi driver, David Perry, made a miraculous escape from the vehicle seconds before the explosion on November 14 last year. The UK terror threat level was raised to "severe" after the bomb blast, while the hospital trust remained at the centre of a major incident for the following ten days.
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In a statement ahead of the anniversary of the bombing, Chief Executive of Liverpool Women's Hospital, Kathryn Thomson, said: "Although a year has passed the events of that Sunday in November have left their mark on the Trust and things will never quite be the same.
"The incident was extremely traumatic and upsetting for everyone in the city, not least our staff, our patients, their families and our local community. Whilst we can be grateful that the absolute worst did not happen, there is no escaping the fact that there was the intent to cause significant harm to NHS staff, pregnant women, newborn babies, their families and other people who were in our care.
"The scars on our buildings have diminished but some of the deeper scars of that terrible intent remain.
"Imagine being the woman in labour when the bomb exploded right outside your window; or the midwife or other clinician having to carry on looking after people on that day despite your fear about what may happen next. Imagine being a partner on your way to visit the hospital to see your newborn baby on your happiest of days; or being in main reception when the bomb went off and glass and smoke blew in."
On the day of the terror attack on November 14 last year, Ms Thomson recalled: "Our staff ran towards danger not away from it. Their primary aim as always was to help and care for people, regardless of the risk to themselves and their commitment and dedication remained in the days and weeks following the incident as we continued to run a hospital within a live police cordon.
"Our staff were truly outstanding – our night shift staff were arriving hours early to ensure they could get on site and release the day shift. Our partners in the city immediately responded to our calls for help - we had on-site counsellors within a couple of hours of the incident from Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust and other hospitals accepted some of our women during our brief closure to admissions.
"We were faced with running a hospital from within a Police Cordon, under the control of Police and Counter Terrorism. We had to make quick decisions about what could be stood down, what could be transferred and when we would be able to resume normal service."
17 babies were born at the Crown Street hospital that day, with the site remaining in major incident and under the control of Merseyside Police and counter-terrorism police for ten days. The hospital carried out a formal review of the entire incident with system partners, police and counter terrorism colleagues, to identify what went well and what could have been better.
Ms Thomson said: "Lessons learnt have been supported by specialist security advice, considered crucial as the Trust is on a single isolated site without the infrastructure of a large acute Trust.
"Liverpool is a city with a huge heart which it wears proudly on its sleeve. Liverpool Women’s holds a special place in that heart. There was significant anger in the city when we were targeted.
"We were immediately sighted on the need to ensure that the attack did not trigger community tensions and a cohesive stance was taken by the Trust, the police and local community and religious leaders to demonstrate that we stood shoulder to shoulder and would not tolerate the incident being used to discriminate, blame or isolate anyone within our hospital or our community. If there is a positive to take from such an event, it is that the incident has connected the hospital even more to the community it serves.
"Fortunately, events like these are rare and Liverpool Women’s feels like a safe place again but everyone connected to the Trust will never forget the events of that day."
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