Children's hospital in Cambridge given go-ahead

The hospital will bring together children's mental and physical health services under one roof

The creation of a hospital to "treat the whole child" has been given the go-ahead at a council meeting.

The Cambridge Children's Hospital will be built on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, to the south of the city.

It will bring together children's mental and physical health services under one roof.

The eastern region is currently the only one in England not to have a hospital dedicated to the care of children, the meeting heard.

Work on the new hospital could begin by 2023

The plans have been developed in partnership between Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, and the University of Cambridge, as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Carin Charlton, director of capital, estates and facilities at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said the hospital will enable medical professionals to "treat the whole child".

"The eastern region is the only region in the country not to have a hospital dedicated to the care of children," she said.

"This hospital will bring together mental health, physical health and integrated translational research into one building to bring to life treating the child and not the illness."

It will care for children and young people from Bedfordshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, as well as Cambridgeshire.

Outline planning approval for the hospital was initially granted in 2009.

The site chosen for the hospital was identified as at high risk of surface level flooding, but the meeting heard that drainage officers were happy with the measures that had been proposed to prevent any flooding.

The application was unanimously approved by a joint development control committee meeting, made up of councillors from Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council.

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