The new Royal Papworth Hospital

Factsheet for GPs

Introduction

As you will know, Royal Papworth Hospital – the specialist cardiothoracic hospital currently based in Papworth Everard, Cambridgeshire – will move to a brand new hospital on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in 2019.

We hope this factsheet will help answer some of the questions that you and your patients may have about the move.

About the new hospital

The new hospital will include five operating theatres, five catheter laboratories (for non- surgical procedures) and two hybrid theatres. There will be 310 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

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

When will the move take place?

Royal Papworth Hospital will move all of its services from the current site in Papworth Everard to the new hospital on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus during a three-week period from 23 April 2019. During this period there will be a time where services are running on both sites. It is important that patients with pre-booked appointments or procedures check their appointment letter carefully to be sure whether they are expected to be seen in Papworth Everard or on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. For emergency admissions via ambulance, the East of England Ambulance Service will take patients to the old site in Papworth Everard up until 1200 on Wednesday 1 May 2019, after which point it will transfer emergency patients to the new hospital on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

Will Royal Papworth Hospital be running a reduced service during the move period? In order to plan for a safe move to the new hospital, we will reduce our elective and outpatient admissions during the move period. However, emergency patients will be treated as normal.

Some of my cardiology patients have experienced long waiting times after being referred to Royal Papworth Hospital recently. Have things improved? We have been working extremely hard to reduce referral to treatment (RTT) times for our Cardiology service recently. Although there is work still to be done, the situation has improved sufficiently to the point that we are now able to offer patients requiring coronary intervention a consultant appointment within two weeks. Most patients will now undergo coronary intervention within six weeks of referral.

Can I use the same phone numbers to make referrals to Royal Papworth Hospital? In the first few weeks following the move to the new hospital, the same phone numbers you currently use will remain active. We will write to all referrers separately to advise of any future changes to phone numbers for referring patients.

Will any services remain at the current site in Papworth Everard? No - after May 2019, all clinical services provided by Royal Papworth Hospital will be provided at the new hospital on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus or at dedicated outreach clinics in the community. The current hospital site in Papworth Everard will close.

Will patients be able to park at the new hospital? Patient parking will be available in Car Park 2, which is next to the new hospital. There are a few spaces outside the hospital to allow for patients being dropped off or collected, but these will have a maximum 10 minute stay.

We will have four Blue Badge spaces outside of the hospital, but there are additional disabled spaces on levels 1-4 of Car Park 2.

Patients will be entitled to discounted parking (£3.60 per day) but they will need to show their appointment letter or card at the customer service desk within the car park for the discount to be applied. Other rates apply for visitors.

Parking will need to be paid for at one of the pay stations within the car park entrance on the ground floor. The machines accept both card and cash payments.

Parking will also be available at Park & Ride sites around Cambridge. The closest Park & Ride sites to the new hospital are Trumpington and Babraham Road and these have direct bus services to the Campus.

How can patients get to the new hospital via public transport? There will be many options for patients looking to travel to the new hospital via public transport. We have produced a leaflet with more details about public transport options serving the new hospital. Please see our website for more details: https://royalpapworth.nhs.uk/our-hospital/our-new-hospital.

What facilities will be available for patients and visitors in the new hospital? There will be a restaurant, convenience store and cash point on the ground floor of the hospital. There will also be free Wi-Fi throughout the hospital. Inpatients will also be able to enjoy our new free Patient Entertainment System with up to 100 TV and radio channels.

If you or your patients have any other queries about our move, please contact the hospital’s Communications team by email to [email protected].