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Wrapping around the whole family

Cambridge Children's Hospital will support the whole family, not just the child who is unwell.

Read about our vision

Our vision is that Cambridge Children’s Hospital provides wrap-around care for the whole family, when they need it most. The design of our building and our model of care will support a holistic approach that leads to better outcomes for our patients and their loved ones.

When a child or young person is admitted to hospital, the ripple effect is huge, affecting their parents and carers, siblings, other loved ones, friends and wider support networks. It disrupts family routine, school, friendships and home life.

Cambridge Children’s Hospital will provide a ‘whole family’ approach to care for the East of England. It will offer emotional and psychological support to the family, whilst thinking about the community back home and the child's future. Additionally, having a hospital that is designed with children and their families, it will be a space that supports this holistic approach to care.

Right from the start, the new hospital has been designed with children, young people, parents and carers with lived experience, as well as NHS staff, ensuring we get the facility right for those who will use it.

Let's take a look at our approach to supporting families, starting with some feedback from parents and carers!

  • A speech bubble with a quote saying "It would be great to bring in nature and more accessible outdoor space"

    You said, we listened

    All en-suite rooms will feature windows bringing in lots of natural light. There will be a spacious rear garden and terraced gardens on every ward
  • A quote "“It would be lovely to have spaces to gather the family unit together with the young person to eat, play cards and just chill out”

    You said, we listened

    Each ward will include communal dining areas, and the top floor will have a family respite lounge. There will also be rooms designed for sensory play throughout the building.
  • A quote “Daily life doesn’t stop when you have a poorly child in hospital, so basic things like a space to work or somewhere to do your washing would make a huge difference”

    You said, we listened

    Each ward will feature quiet spaces for parents and carers to unwind, hold private conversations, or work, including designated areas for remote working within the hospital floors. A laundry room will also be available for patient and family use.
Family recovery

Children do not recover in isolation. Recovery happens within families. They carry the weight of recovery long after professionals have gone home. When you support the family, you strengthen the foundation beneath the child too.

Kate Gravett, Parent Advocate
A montage of images showing a sketch of a mother and son, with photos of family life around it Family Story

Creating a strong foundation

Kate Gravett's eldest child suffered an acute traumatic brain injury in a road accident on his first day of secondary school. She explains the importance of supporting the whole family as they navigate their new reality.

Read Kate's blog (opens in a new tab)
Staff Perspective

Supporting the whole family after diagnosis

Consultant paediatric neurosurgeon Ibrahim Jalloh from Addenbrooke's Hospital explains how the spaces within Cambridge Children's Hospital will help families.

Diagnosis impact

The new diagnosis of a brain tumour for a child is a really impactful diagnosis for the whole family. It's such a shock. Often it comes after weeks of concern and worry about what the cause of particular symptoms may be, so typically we're faced with a family that's in pieces.

Ibrahim Jalloh, Consultant Paediatric Neurosurgeon, Addenbrooke's Hospital
Hospital Design

A hospital designed to support whole families

Clinical Lead Nurse Vicky Amiss-Smith walks us through some of the key aspects of the design that will support the whole family to have a better experience when they are at Cambridge Children's Hospital.

Engagement

What is so fantastic is that this design for the children's hospital has been coproduced with children, young people, parents and families, alongside staff members, to make sure we've listened and we are delivering a building fit for the future.

Vicky Amiss-Smith, Clinical Lead Nurse
A woman with blondish brown bobbed straight hair smiling at the camera Holistic Approach

Support the families so they can support the child

Families won’t just be welcome at Cambridge Children’s Hospital, they will be essential for improving outcomes for children and young people, says family therapist Dr Rachel Watson

Read Dr Watson's article (opens in a new tab)
A ripple effect

Illness does not sit neatly inside one person, it reverberates through everyone who is connected to what is happening. At Cambridge Children’s Hospital, we begin from this shared recognition. Our vision - A Whole New Way - asks us to look beyond the individual and to see, understand, and work with the family as a whole. Not as an ‘extra’ to care, but as central to it.

Dr Rachel Watson, Family Therapist, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
Two girls sitting on the stairs. One had gingery hair and is holding a cat teddy. The other has long brown hair and is holding a unicorn teddy. They are looking at each other and laughing Play in hospital

Play underpins our hospital vision

Play is a key part of our holistic approach to care, both to support wellbeing during treatment and distract from the hospital environment. Play also helps siblings who spend long periods in hospital with their brother or sister.

Read more (opens in a new tab)
Sibling support

I had to visit my sister every day after school, and there wasn’t really much to do. She was just in bed all the time. The play therapist nearby brought loads of toys every day and because I was bored most of the time, play helped distract myself from that.

Alice, older sister of Phoebe