The unique ambition of Cambridge Children’s Hospital was the topic of a panel discussion held in London recently. Around 60 people attended as part of an evening reception for the hospital’s fundraising campaign.
Chaired by BBC TV personality Dr Xand Van Tulleken, the panel also included 24-year-old Katie Birditt from the project’s Young Adult Forum, Parent Advocate Celia Enderle and clinical lead, Dr Rob Heuschkel.
Integrated mental and physical healthcare
Speaking to guests, Dr Xand said the Cambridge Children’s Hospital vision of integrating of mental and physical health, with research, “sounds obvious”, but hasn’t been done before. He described the new model of care as “a vision of the future for all of us.”
This is the model of how all healthcare should be delivered. This is how adult hospitals should be as well. This is the prototype for all healthcare.
Dr Xand Van Tulleken
Celia has been part of the project team, as a voice for families, for over three years. She was spurred to get involved because of her experience in hospital with her son, who was diagnosed with a rare disease as a baby. Now 14, he still has ongoing hospital appointments. He suffered trauma following a nasty fracture that led to multiple surgeries and infections, and a lot of time off school.
It was just a really awful time, but what I didn’t realise was that not only was it the impact on my son’s mental health and myself as a mum, but also my daughter, because she witnessed all those things and all that’s come from that.
Celia Enderle, Parent Advocate
The holistic vision of Cambridge Children’s Hospital is for a ‘whole child’ and ‘whole family’ approach, ensuring the psychological wellbeing of the child’s support network is also supported.
Celia's daughter talks about how her brother's hospital appointments affect their family
Link: https://youtu.be/bkHI1ko3mvo
Reducing stigma around mental health
Katie, who is doing a PhD in neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, works closely alongside her peers in the Cambridge Children's Young Adult Forum to provide vital feedback and ideas for the project. She believes having a hospital that treats mental and physical health together will create a generation that is more mentally resilient and robust, something she said is much needed.
“What I hope for is that, for the first time, young people feel they go somewhere where someone’s not just going to say, oh you’ve got this, let’s just refer you on," Katie explained. "We need get to a place where we’re actively addressing stigma. We’re shaping a future where young people have their mental health taken seriously.”
Spaces for teenagers at Cambridge Children's Hospital
Cambridge Children’s Hospital will have single en suite bedrooms for all patients, with a parent bed. Dr Xand asked Katie about the issue of boredom and isolation, particularly if they are in single rooms. She said the youth forums had talked about facilities that enable children to remain in school, attend online classes, and have spaces to study, so they “aren’t just sitting in a bed with their parents on a chair next to them in that very traditional hospital set up.”
She said they’d also thought about how to bring young people together, not grouped by illness but, wherever possible, by age.
You could be sitting next to someone with a broken leg. You could be sitting next to someone with a serious mental health condition, BUT what unites you is the fact you’re all 17 years old and you’re all into the latest TikTok dance.
Katie Birditt, Chair of Youth and Young Adult Forums
Research at Cambridge Children's Hospital
At its heart, the new specialist children's hospital will have a research institute, with six research centres, including genomics. Research will be visible from the moment you step through the door, something Celia is excited about. She understands how important research is for families of children with rare and complex conditions.
“Just imagine you’re in a place in your life where you don’t know where it’s going," said Celia, "You don’t have answers because no medicine has created answers, but you know there are people in that office working to try to find answers.”
Dr Rob Heuschkel, one of the project’s clinical leads, said a lot of healthcare research is focused on adults. Embedding a research footprint into an active children’s hospital is “showcasing a new direction for research.
We’ve worked hard not to just have the super smart scientists in the labs, but to really embed research and make that everyone’s business. We want to really empower patients that come to us to take part in that.
Rob Heuschkel, Cambridge Children's Clinical Lead
Food in hospital
Developing a ‘Food, with Care’ vision (opens in a new tab) and strategy for Cambridge Children’s Hospital is well underway. The panel talked about food and the importance of options, including communal spaces for people to come together. Katie said that “food is substantial to our lives everywhere else so why should it not be in hospital.”
She continued: “We need these spaces where people can connect and share their experience, because everyone that comes into hospital is united by having been through something, or witness or experiencing illness.”
Engaging with children, young people and families
Cambridge Children’s Hospital has an ambitious programme of coproduction and engagement, ensuring children, young people, parents and carers are fully involved in how the hospital will look, feel and care.
Following on from the London event, Dr Xand joined the Youth and Young Adult Forum meetings. The young people were discussing the hospital’s ambition of treating children closer to home, wherever possible. They were open, honest and forthright in their opinions.
I was so impressed at the level of detail, the points that you’re making, and the extreme value of listening to your experiences and wisdom. Unless you’ve been unwell, it’s hard to fully understand it.
Dr Xand talking to the youth forums after their meetings
- The Cambridge Children’s Hospital fundraising campaign aims to support the capital costs of the new building by raising £100m through philanthropy. It is delivered in partnership between Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (opens in a new tab), Head to Toe Charity (opens in a new tab), the University of Cambridge (opens in a new tab), and our committed Campaign Board and Ambassadors. If you are inspired to support the project and its unique vision, you can read more about the Cambridge Children’s Hospital Campaign on this website.