1 May 2019

Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has confirmed it is ready to accept its first patients at its new hospital in Cambridge.

From midday today (Wednesday 1 May), the East of England Ambulance Service will be transporting emergency heart attack patients to Royal Papworth’s new home on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus instead of the Papworth Everard site.

Elective operations are also due to begin at the state-of-the-art hospital today. 

However, appointments and procedures are still taking place at the hospital in Papworth, which means that the Trust is now dual-running services across two sites.

Stephen Posey, Chief Executive at Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Today is an incredibly proud day for everyone connected to Royal Papworth. After 101 years at Papworth Everard, we are moving to a state-of-the-art, purpose-built hospital on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. The new hospital will be a fantastic place to work for our current and future staff, providing a better patient experience than ever before. These are incredibly exciting times and I look forward to what the future holds.”

Professor John Wallwork, Chairman of Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It is not often that I am lost for words but seeing first-hand the effort, enthusiasm and hard work which has gone into our move has been an amazing experience. It’s now that everything feels real – it’s no longer a dream that we are moving to our amazing new building in Cambridge. 

“While it will be really sad leaving our current site, it is the right thing to do – for Royal Papworth is not the place, it is our people. Moving our culture has been a key part of our move to ensure that our new hospital builds on its world class reputation.”

With the dual running across two sites, if patients are unsure of which site to visit, they should call Royal Papworth’s Switchboard on 01223 638000. 

The new hospital includes five operating theatres, five catheter laboratories (for non-surgical procedures) and two hybrid theatres. There is around 300 beds for patients, including a 46-bed critical care unit, and most patients will have their own single, en-suite rooms. 

Designed by clinicians with patients in mind, the new hospital building will support Royal Papworth staff to deliver excellent care to patients suffering from heart and lung disease. 

Design features of the new hospital include: 

  • Two dedicated lifts to take heart attack patients from the ambulance bay directly to the hospital’s cath labs (where non-surgical procedures take place) in an emergency.
  • A link corridor to Addenbrooke’s Hospital to support the transfer of patients needing treatment in the two hospitals.
  • A dedicated entrance and lift for relatives and friends visiting patients in Critical Care.
  • A specialist air filtering system in the hospital’s Cystic Fibrosis department to minimise the spread of airborne infections.
  • Single, en-suite patient bedrooms to improve patient privacy and dignity and minimise the spread of infection. 
  • All outpatient and diagnostic services based on the ground floor so that outpatients can access all services in one place without needing to visit the upper floors.