Cambridge Children’s Hospital: Building a New Model of Care Through Lived Experience
Shaped through co-production and lived experience, the project is being developed with children, young people, families, clinicians and researchers working together to design services that are more joined-up, accessible and inclusive.
Discover how this pioneering approach is helping to build a new model of care for the future.
Cambridge Children’s Hospital (CCH) is a major new specialist hospital being developed on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. Designed to be the first hospital of its kind in the East of England, it will bring together physical and mental health services, alongside research and education, in a single integrated setting. The project is being delivered through a partnership between NHS organisations and the University of Cambridge, with a shared ambition to improve outcomes for children, young people and families across the region.
Co-production at the heart of design
A defining feature of Cambridge Children’s Hospital is its commitment to co-production, bringing together children, young people, parents, carers, NHS staff and researchers to shape the hospital collaboratively.
Recent engagement activity has included large-scale design review sessions where over 100 staff and carers worked directly with the project and construction teams to review hundreds of rooms and thousands of pieces of equipment. These sessions, held in a dedicated collaboration hub on the hospital site, are helping to ensure that clinical spaces are practical, accessible and responsive to real-world needs.
Workshops and user groups are also exploring how different environments within the hospital will feel, including sensory considerations such as lighting, safety, and emotional wellbeing. This reflects growing recognition that hospital design can have a significant impact on anxiety, recovery, and patient experience, particularly for children and young people.
Listening to lived experience
The programme continues to place strong emphasis on lived experience. Children, young people and parents are being actively involved through formal groups and advisory roles, contributing to discussions about care pathways, hospital design, and service priorities.
Recent events, including the hospital’s inaugural conference “A Whole New Way: Shaping the future of children’s healthcare”, have highlighted how lived experience is influencing thinking at all levels of the project. Parent advocates and young adult forum members took part in panel discussions alongside clinicians and national leaders, sharing how their experiences of services are helping to shape future care models.
The involvement of people with lived experience is not limited to consultation events, it is embedded in ongoing decision-making processes across the programme.
Addressing health inequalities and access challenges
Feedback from families and young people across the region has consistently highlighted key challenges in current services, including long waits for mental health support, difficulty accessing specialist care, fragmented pathways between services, and the impact of travelling long distances for treatment.
Cambridge Children’s Hospital has been designed to respond to these issues by integrating physical and mental health care, improving coordination between services, and reducing barriers to access.
A particular focus is also being placed on health inequalities. Dedicated workshops have examined how the hospital may impact groups protected under the Equality Act 2010, as well as communities experiencing poorer health outcomes. This work is helping ensure that inclusion and equity are considered not only in service design, but also in delivery and experience.
Research and early impact
Alongside clinical care, the hospital will host a dedicated children’s research institute, supporting studies that aim to improve early diagnosis, prevention and treatment.
Work already underway includes studies focused on early identification of developmental and health needs in infants and children, with the aim of improving long-term outcomes through earlier intervention. This integration of research and care is intended to ensure that advances in knowledge translate quickly into improved services for patients.
A shared vision for the future
Cambridge Children’s Hospital represents a long-term investment in children’s health services across the East of England. While the physical building is still in development, significant progress is already being made in shaping how care will be delivered within it.
At the centre of this work is a clear principle: services should be designed with the people who use them. Through ongoing engagement, co-production and lived experience involvement, the aim is to create a hospital that is responsive, inclusive, and better able to meet the complex needs of children, young people and families.
As the project moves closer to construction, this continued focus on listening and collaboration will remain essential in ensuring the hospital delivers meaningful and lasting improvements in care.
If you would like to share your views on children’s healthcare services in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, you can take part in our survey HERE. Your feedback helps shape services for children, young people, and families across the region.
