Plans for Cambridge Children’s Hospital can move ahead following the approval of the Outline Business Case for the project by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
The project has been given the green light to begin the detailed process of appointing a contractor, to build the ground-breaking new facility in 2026.
The ministerial backing means that the Project’s Outline Business Case, the second stage of the business case process, has now been fully approved by the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, and HM Treasury.
It was approved in principle in September 2023, subject to a capital affordability review by NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care’s Joint Investment Committee.
This is the first hospital truly designed to bring mental and physical health care together for children and young people
That review took place in April 2024 and resulted in a recommendation to Ministers to endorse the decision.
In a show of further confidence in its plans, the Outline Business Case was signed off by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in August 2024.
This approval recognises that the hospital will meet the needs of patients and staff right across the East of England and that the project has the appropriate funding streams in place, to deliver the specialist children’s facility.
The hospital is being co-designed with the help of children, young people, families, and healthcare professionals across the region to ensure the new hospital will meet the needs of patients, families, and staff.
The approval comes as a programme of groundworks preparing for the build was completed in July
The approval comes as a programme of groundworks preparing for the build was completed in July, and new access roads have now been installed where the new five-storey, 35,000 sqm hospital will be located, opposite the Rosie Maternity Hospital, on Robinson Way and Dame Mary Archer Way.
In the coming weeks, people will be able to see hoardings installed around the site of Cambridge Children’s Hospital, the first hospital truly designed to bring mental and physical health care together for children and young people.
Dr Isobel Heyman, Clinical Lead for Mental Health at Cambridge Children’s Hospital said: “This really is fantastic news and an exciting moment in our journey to build a truly integrated children’s hospital for the East of England."
“The current model of mental health care is inadequate. Many children with physical ill-health also have significant mental health needs, and vice versa," Heyman concluded.
The current model of mental health care is inadequate. Many children with physical ill-health also have significant mental health needs, and vice versa
The hospital will also house a University of Cambridge research institute, focussed on preventing childhood illness and early intervention across mental and physical healthcare.
Professor David Rowitch, Clinical Lead for Research at Cambridge Children’s Hospital said: “By bringing clinicians and patients together with University of Cambridge investigators and industry partners, we aim to shift the medicine paradigm from traditional reactive approaches, to one based on early detection, precision intervention and disease prevention."
The Cambridge Children’s Hospital project is a partnership between Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH), Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT), and the University of Cambridge.
Work now continues on the final stage of the business case for Cambridge Children’s Hospital.
