Cambridge Children's Hospital

Help us build a new world-leading children’s hospital for the East of England

The brand new Cambridge Children’s Hospital will be for every child and young person in the East of England, and will have national and international impact. Integrating mental and physical healthcare, with a University of Cambridge Research Institute embedded, our hospital will bring a whole new approach to child health.

A hospital designed with children and for children. One that is focused not only on what we need now, but will change the lives of millions of children and young people in the future.

“ This is a landmark moment for children in the East of England, and together we can set a new standard for child health nationally and internationally.”

Dr Rob Heuschkel, Consultant Paediatric Gastroenterologist and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) Clinical Director for Cambridge Children’s Hospital

The critical need for a new hospital

Currently, the East of England is the only region in the UK without a dedicated children’s hospital.

We are building a brand new hospital in Cambridge. For the first time ever, we will combine physical and mental health under one roof.

We need you to join us on this incredible journey to raise £100 million.

Phoebe, Cambridgeshire

OUR CHILDREN DESERVE THE BEST CARE.

Cambridge Children’s Hospital will care for 1.5 million children and young people living across the East of England. With the population set to increase by 9% by 2024 capacity will be stretched and we need this hospital to support an increasing number of children and young people who face major health challenges.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and Addenbrooke’s currently provide outstanding care to children and young people across the East of England and the UK. In fact, 70% of inpatient referrals come from outside of Cambridge.

Established by the NHS and the University of Cambridge, our brand new hospital is a globally unique partnership, bringing together unrivalled clinical and academic knowledge. Having this expertise in one setting will ensure incredible care can be delivered, whilst developing breakthroughs in diagnosis and treatment. Care will be personalised and targeted and will follow our patients from childhood to adulthood.

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YOU CAN HELP TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN

The Government has pledged £100 million towards the hospital. Now, we are looking to match that by raising £100 million in philanthropy by 2025.

of children in the UK have a diagnosable mental health condition of hospital admissions are for ‘rare diseases’ needing multiple procedures of adult mental illness originates in childhood and adolescence Rates of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes are increasing

Zofeya, Bedfordshire

Cambridge Children’s Hospital will care for children and young people in a whole new

Our unique approach will revolutionise the way children are cared for and treated across the East of England and beyond.

WE WILL INTEGRATE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH

In the East of England, Addenbrooke’s provides physical health care services, and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust provides specialist mental health services. Cambridge Children’s Hospital will bring these services under one roof. This is unique and will change the way we care for children.

WE WILL USE TECHNOLOGY TO TREAT MORE CHILDREN AT HOME

Working with GPs, local health providers and community services, we will use telehealth to monitor children, so they don’t have to travel to hospital quite so often. It also means our teams can share their expertise across the whole of the East of England and beyond - regionally, nationally and internationally.

WE WILL HAVE RESEARCHERS ON SITE

How we care for children and young people will be underpinned by research from the Cambridge Children’s Research Institute, meaning that they can access new advances straight away.

WE WILL FOCUS ON PREVENTION

We want to focus on detecting illnesses as early as possible – even preventing them altogether.

WE WILL SHARE WHAT WE LEARN WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD

We aim to revolutionise healthcare for children and young people around the world.

way.

Research

What if we could prevent illnesses before they exist?

Cambridge

World-leading research from the University of Cambridge will increase our understanding of the genetic and environmental factors behind an illness. And this ground-breaking genomic science will allow us to pinpoint the very best, personalised treatment. We will help children get better quicker, supporting healthy foundations for the life they have ahead of them.

Through this research we will create a unique library capable of predicting and preventing diseases, and developing adaptive, personalised medicine. We will share these life-changing lessons globally, helping children and young people from the East of England and far beyond.

CAMBRIDGE CHILDREN’S RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Cambridge Children’s Research Institute will be solely dedicated to improving the health of children and young people. Its six research centres will focus on the most serious impediments to health and wellbeing that children and young people face in the UK and globally.

• Genomic Medicine Centre

• Mental Health and Neurodevelopmental Centre

• Childhood Cancer Centre

• Perinatal Centre

• Infection and Inflammation Centre

• Diabetes and Obesity Centre

Children’s Hospital wants to understand not just the child, but the adult they’ll become.

Millie-Mae has severe epilepsy. Every day, she faced the risk of life-threatening seizures. From being four months old she was in hospital almost every other week. She took part in Addenbrooke’s Next Generation Children’s Project and doctors were able to pinpoint the gene that caused her illness and precisely tailor her medication. At Cambridge Children’s Hospital, mapping the whole genome and understanding the genetic basis of disease and recovery is central to our vision.

The diagnosis arrived on Millie-Mae’s first birthday and now her condition can be better treated.

“It’s great that this kind of treatment can be offered to more families when the new hospital gets built. It really has transformed our lives and Millie’s.”

Millie-Mae’s mum, Claire Millie-Mae, Suffolk

Integrating physical and mental health

Children

A NEW TYPE OF CARE

Traditionally, mental and physical health have been treated separately. Divided into specialisms, disconnected across wards, split between hospitals miles apart. And yet, for us –and for the children we treat – the two couldn’t be more connected.

There is an urgent need for a new type of care. Care that understands the links between mind and body. Care that is delivered by staff who understand the importance of both.

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH, TOGETHER UNDER ONE ROOF

We will bring physical and mental expertise from all disciplines together under one roof, working together to organise treatment that supports everything a child may be going through — whether visible or not. Their hospital experience will be smoother, removing the need to travel between buildings and, quite often, hospitals. For conditions like epilepsy, where sudden anxiety can easily trigger a seizure, this streamlined approach can have a massive impact, letting young people focus on how to move forward instead of where to go next.

By researching links between the psychological and the physical, we will be able to see every possible direction a diagnosis may take, giving us the ability to proactively tackle conditions and prevent damage, which may easily be missed during a step-by-step approach.

need psychological and physical care. Not one or the other. Not one before the other.

Alex, Cambridgeshire

Jasmine was diagnosed with the neurological condition Conversion Disorder after injuring her knee in a trampolining accident. She was confined to a wheelchair, became increasingly anxious, stopped eating and stopped going to school. Just thinking or speaking about pain made Jasmine hurt even more, to the point that her whole body was in crisis, physically and mentally. Through rounds of play therapy, Jasmine became more open to talking about her illness and staff noticed she was putting more weight on her feet without pain. From these first steps, she was soon able to leave her wheelchair behind, and within the year was back with her friends at the gymnastics club.

Jasmine’s is just one story that highlights the urgent need for integrated healthcare that understands the whole child.

Jasmine, Cambridgeshire

“Jasmine had stopped eating, was scared to go to sleep, and even began to believe her food was being contaminated. We were just at a loss with what to do.”

Jasmine’s dad, Matthew

Hospital Bed

Care beyond our walls

Closer to the community. Closer to their front door. Closer to their own bed.

CARE WHERE THEY ARE

Cambridge Children’s Hospital will take the care to children, wherever they are. Families won’t need to travel as much between home and hospital, or for multiple treatments. We will provide care in the places children know, surrounded by familiar faces.

Cambridge Children’s Hospital will work hand-in-hand with local partners and hospitals. As 70% of inpatient referrals will come from outside of Cambridge – from hospitals and medical practices across the East of England –this approach will be essential.

AS CLOSE TO HOME AS POSSIBLE

Advances in telehealth are accelerating rapidly. Video consultations and virtual monitoring are seamlessly integrated into treatment plans. Observational visits, which used to mean children travelling to hospital, can be done remotely. And while we will have everything we need to care for the sickest children in the hospital when they need it most, our pioneering vision is one that draws on every development to treat children as close to home as possible.

Everything we know and discover within our walls will be shared with partners beyond them, developing collaborations to transform care across the whole of the East of England and beyond - regionally, nationally and internationally.

At just a few weeks old, Max was diagnosed with a condition that paralyses the nerves of the voice box. He underwent life-saving tracheostomy surgery and, for 14 months, Max and his family made frequent four-hour trips to hospital for treatment. This took a huge toll on the whole family. Max now receives care in the right places for him –speech and language therapy in his local town and daily physiotherapy in the garden with his parents. Max can now breathe, swallow and communicate on his own and is busy living life as noisily as possible.

Max’s story shows us the role that hospital and home can play in delivering the right care, in the right place, at the right time. If we connect with the whole community, we can give more young people the opportunity to enjoy their childhood.

The teams that cared for us at the hospital were incredible, and this new hospital will make the world of difference to any families with severely ill children.”

Max’s mum, Katherine

Max, Essex

A hospital co-created with children

A HOLISTIC APPROACH

If you only focus on the illness, you can miss the other things a child needs. That could be their routine. Their friends and family. Their pets and toys. Or drifting off to sleep in their own bed.

That’s why our holistic approach is so important. We take the time to understand the person and their needs, not just the patient and their illness. We will look beyond what’s written on their chart to understand what’s important to every child we meet – whether that’s school, friends, books or play.

From virtual lessons to access to nature, we will always give children the chance to be themselves. After all, when their lives can sometimes feel like one long treatment, somewhere to play, somewhere to relax, and somewhere for teenagers to be teenagers becomes even more important.

A FOCUS ON THINGS THAT MAKE CHILDREN

– AND THEIR FAMILIES – FEEL BETTER

Communal kitchens, outdoor spaces, family wellbeing areas and our central playground will provide places to rest, play, cook and eat. Our wards will be designed with single beds, space for a parent to stay and privacy.

We will use art and colour throughout the hospital, creating spaces that are child-led, not childish. And by designing the hospital with input from children and their families, the wards, theatres and overall hospital environment will be welcoming, comfortable and familiar.

Being around nature has proven time and again to benefit children. Even small connections with the outdoors can improve energy levels, creativity and mental health. Our hospital will have access to gardens, courtyards and roof terraces to improve health and wellbeing for patients, visitors and staff.

No matter what they’re going through, every child deserves a childhood.

Cambridge. Right place, right time.

Cambridge Children’s Hospital is a unique partnership that brings together world-leading clinical and academic knowledge from Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge.

Cambridge has an unrivalled heritage in scientific discovery, including identifying the structure of DNA.

Our new hospital will be located at the heart of the city’s Biomedical Campus — Europe’s leading life sciences hub — putting transformative biomedical research on our doorstep.

We will work alongside local partners from associated institutions such as the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and one of

the world’s premier centres of genomic discovery, the Wellcome Sanger Institute. We will draw on our collaborations with industry-leading companies to combine expertise and transform how we treat and detect illness.

And as the only region in the UK without a dedicated children’s hospital, we will finally be able to provide world-leading care for children and their families in a place much closer to home.

1. Cambridge Children’s Hospital

2. The Rosie Hospital

3. Addenbrooke’s Hospital

4. Royal Papworth Hospital

5. AstraZeneca

6.

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8. The Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre

9. Forvie Site

10. Cambridge Cancer Hospital opening 2026

Design principles

This is a hospital built with children at its heart. They will tell us what they’d like and what they need. This hospital exists for children – we want to make sure it is everything they need to help them live longer, happier, healthier lives.

Together with our internationally renowned architects, Hawkins\Brown and White Arkitekter, expert project design team and staff, our Children’s Network has devised seven guiding principles for the design of Cambridge Children’s Hospital.

• being child-centric without being childish

• integrated

• healing

• sustainable

• connected to the outdoors

• homely

• adaptable

108

inpatient beds across mental and physical healthcare

16

specialist intensive care beds

Provision for day-case patients

42 7

operating theatres, diagnostics and imaging

6 research centres embedded within the hospital Co-created

A pioneering research institute with with children and families who will inspire the design

Outside space and courtyards connecting patients with the natural environment

The greenest hospital possible with a focus on sustainability

This is the story of Cambridge Children’s Hospital

Imagine how it feels to make one child feel better. Now imagine making millions of children better. We have the chance to do just that: an opportunity to build a children’s hospital in the heart of Cambridge, which will improve the lives of children regionally, nationally and globally.

My fellow Campaign Board members and I are determined to make this pioneering hospital a reality. We have already seen the UK Government commit £100 million in funding. Our ambition is to match this with philanthropy, together delivering a bold vision and a lasting legacy.

Cambridge Children’s Hospital is a unique partnership of the NHS, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge. Together, they will build a world’s first hospital that cares for children and young people’s physical and mental health.

This will be a hospital that focuses on what young people need now and in the future. With a groundbreaking research institute embedded within, our genomic discoveries and mind-body research will not only treat illnesses but prevent them altogether.

Philanthropy will help to transform healthcare for children and young people. This is your chance to change lives. To be part of something truly extraordinary.

This is a whole new way of caring for children and young people. We hope you will be inspired to join us.

Dame Mary Archer Campaign Chair

A story that begins with an extraordinary opportunity. One that will have a life-changing impact on millions of children and young people.

How you can help

By building Cambridge Children’s Hospital as an integrated world-class facility with global impact, we have a once-in-alifetime opportunity to change the lives of millions of children. And you can help make it happen.

The Government has pledged £100 million towards the Hospital. Our fundraising campaign aims to match that, raising £100 million in private philanthropic and charitable funds by 2025.

We are seeking enlightened philanthropists and donors at all levels, whether individuals or organisations, to help make our vision a reality. Please offer your support and assistance for our campaign so we can find the funds we need for our children’s futures.

To find out more about the Cambridge Children’s Hospital campaign and the opportunities to support it, please contact:

Gemma Downham Director of Philanthropy, Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust

T: +44 (0)1223 217757

E: gemma.downham@act4addenbrookes.org.uk

W: www.cambridgechildrens.org.uk

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