More than thirty MPs from across the East of England have signed a letter, pledging their support for two new specialist regional facilities - the Children’s Hospital and Cancer Research Hospital, both due to be built on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. The letter, which sets out why the hospitals are so urgently needed in the region, will be included as part of the Outline Business Case for the new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital.
June 2022
To whom it may concern,
As Members of Parliament for constituencies in the East of England, we would like to state our support for two new specialist hospitals for the region.
The need is urgent and immediate. The East of England is the only NHS region without a specialist children’s hospital, nor does it have a specialist cancer hospital.
Both these new planned hospitals will provide high-quality patient-led care for our constituents, drawing on a wealth of co-located research and technology to detect disease early and provide personalised precision treatment.
The Children’s Hospital and Cancer Research Hospital are due to be built on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. They will sit alongside regional NHS physical and mental health specialties, the world-class research expertise of Cambridge University and the nearby Wellcome Sanger Institute, as well as life-science industry leaders such as AZ and GSK – delivering for the UK’s life sciences agenda.
Immediate benefits will be felt across the whole of East of England if these hospitals get the go-ahead, through the creation of regional hubs and clinical networks aimed at caring for patients closer to home, and building a sustainable regional paediatric and cancer workforce. Beyond that, both these hospitals will help transform healthcare nationally and internationally for generations to come.
We look forward to both these projects being given the green light to proceed to Full Business Case, in order that patients from right across our region can benefit from these important new life-changing facilities as soon as possible.
Yours faithfully,
Bim Afolami MP
Peter Aldous MP
Richard Bacon MP
Kemi Badenoch MP
Duncan Baker MP
Paul Bristow MP
Anthony Browne MP
James Cartlidge MP
Jo Churchill MP
Daisy Cooper MP
Jonathan Djanogly MP
James Duddridge MP
Lucy Frazer MP
George Freeman MP
Richard Fuller MP
Matt Hancock MP
Oliver Heald MP
Tom Hunt MP
Julie Marson MP
Jerome Mayhew MP
Stephen McPartland MP
Stephen Metcalfe MP
Sarah Owen MP
Dr Daniel Poulter MP
Will Quince MP
Chloe Smith MP
Giles Watling MP
John Whittingdale MP
James Wild MP
Mohammad Yasin MP
Daniel Zeichner MP
Plans for Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital are now well developed; the Project had the first stage of its business case (the Strategic Outline Case) approved by the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England & NHS Improvement in December 2021. Work now continues on finalising the Outline Business Case for the Project.
Last month the government’s New Hospital Programme gave the Project the green light to seek expressions of interest from the construction industry for a partner who will build the seven-storey 26,000 m2 facility at the heart of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.