The future: 2020 vision

Realising our vision for development

Location, partnerships, translational research and patient care

Cambridge medical research enjoys a world-wide reputation. Rooted in a city of diverse, academic and cultural history spawning discoveries of world significance, medical research in the city has inevitably grown over the last decades. More organisations and more individuals continue to be attracted to the city; working alongside each other they have created one of the richest pools of clinical and scientific knowledge and expertise not only in the country but in the world.

At CUH this is reflected in clinical teams working in the hospital alongside world-class scientists from a number of internationally renowned organisations, such as the Medical Research Council (MRC), who share the hospital campus. Doctors and scientists collaborate across disciplines and specialties and it is this co-existence of experience and expertise that fosters translational research - turning basic science into new drugs and new therapies to improve treatment and therefore patient care.

Recognising the significance of these relationships together with the potential for the development and extension of the hospital campus sited on the edge of the city, CUH in partnership with the University of Cambridge and the MRC devised a long-term plan for the development of the campus. The 2020 Vision sees the development of the campus as the Cambridge Biomedical Campus - an international centre for hospital services and biomedical research. Although the Vision is the product of the collaboration between CUH, the University and the MRC, the concept embraces the work and partnerships of all the research organisations on the campus now ... and in the future.

Pursuing the Vision ... becoming one of the first NIHR comprehensive biomedical research centres

At the end of 2006, the Trust in partnership with the University of Cambridge became one of the government's new National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) comprehensive biomedical research centres. One of only five centres in the country, and one of only three outside London, this designation is another step in the development of the campus and the recognition of an environment which can support the translation of basic science into better patient care.

The additional funding which this designation has brought helps to drive forward innovation in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of ill health focusing on health priorities in cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity diabetes and metabolic disorders, imaging, infection and immunity, genetics, musculoskeletal disorders, neurosciences, transplantation and women's health, and ensuring that future research is underpinned by investment in capacity development and training.

 

Our ambition is to become the best biomedical research campus in Europe

What the Biomedical Research Centre projects have in common is that they take our biggest assets - the training, intelligence and independent thinking of our staff and the staff of our partner organisations on the campus - and combine them with the fact that there are thousands of people coming through our doors every day who can directly benefit from new research.

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Ambition for the future ... The 2020 Vision

Achieving our ambition to become the best biomedical campus in Europe, while also serving an increasing local population, recognises the need for campus development and expansion.

The existing campus extends to 70 acres but further development space on the site is limited. In 1999, the Trust, with its major partners the University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council (MRC), created a masterplan for the physical development of the campus - the 2020 Vision which sees an extension of a further 70 acres to support and enhance existing on-site activities and to create space for new opportunities.

The 2020 Vision recognises the Trust as an existing academic clinical centre but places it in the context of the developing Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

The objectives of the 2020 Vision plans are to:

• expand local hospital service to meet population growth
• develop specialist services both regional and national - including space for the relocation of Papworth Hospital to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus
• promote and develop NHS and other clinical teaching
• promote existing public sector biomedical research
• allow for the expansion of other on-site clinical support services
• develop existing links with commercial clinical research to investigate new treatment procedures/protocols for the long-term benefit of patients in the Cambridge area, the UK and abroad.

Taking our vision into the future

In the summer of 2006 the Cambridge City Council adopted a new Local Plan which fully supports the whole of the 2020 Vision concept, releasing 70 acres of land from the Green Belt for this development, doubling the size of the existing campus. The Trust has been working with its development partners Liberty Property Trust UK and Countryside Properties Plc on finalising a masterplan for the new extension land which will include around 20 acres of clinical development and 40 acres for biomedical and research activities. Outline planning permission for this was granted in November 2007.

The expanded 140 acre site will have room for extensive new clinical facilities, including the proposed Children's Hospital and the relocated Papworth Hospital (specialist cardiothoracic services) by 2013, as well as research labs. As a leading hospital and centre for research and teaching we already have education facilities, but these will need to be increased and improved to match the training needs of a growing workforce under the 2020 Vision development. The 'Forum' will not only provide these facilities along with hotel and conference facilities, but it will also enhance the relationship between all the clinical and research partners on the campus directly benefitting the quality of our patient care. More on-site accommodation is planned for staff, with transport connections to the campus via a new guided busway and a new link to the M11. Both these important pieces of infrastructure are expected to be completed in 2009.

Separate, detailed applications for individual buildings will also be submitted. The first of these buildings will be the new MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Planning permission for this new building was granted in November 2007 and construction of the laboratory is scheduled to begin in Summer 2008 and is expected to take three years.

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Developments under the 2020 Vision

Already the campus has seen substantial development in patient services under the 2020 Vision.

• the Emergency Assessment Unit opened in 2006, centralising and re-designing emergency treatment for patients
• the Addenbrooke's Treatment Centre (ATC) opened in April 2007, another example of partnership working between the Trust, the University and the Medical Research Council. The centre houses research and clinical facilities for genetics and diabetes, plus theatres and wards for short-stay and emergency surgery plus endoscopy and sterile services facilities
• patient services are being are continually being refurbished and developed across the Trust: these are example of just some of the recent projects - the ultrasound department, the MRI unit, venous access unit, lung function, angiography service and stroke ward
• the Cambridge Breast Unit has been expanded with funding from ACT to include a clinical and translational research unit
• the Teenage Cancer Trust is discussing the location of special facilities on the campus during 2009
• the development of a Children's Hospital moved closer when approval was given in 2007 to look at developing detailed plans
• multi-storey car parks have been added to the infrastructure - as the campus gets busier more spaces need to be provided although the Trust has in place a very successful Travel Plan which encourages staff, visitors and patients to use alternatives to the car to travel to the campus.

'The 2020 Vision is designed to develop the Addenbrooke's site as an international centre of excellence, bringing together clinical care, teaching and research to form the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.'

Already the campus' reputation has attracted research developments: in February 2007, HM the Queen officially opened the new Cancer Research UK, Cancer Research Institute in the Li Ka Shing Centre.

More than 300 scientists in up to 30 research groups are based at the Institute, led by Professor Sir Bruce Ponder, Professor of Oncology, whose research covers the genetics of breast cancer, and Professor Fiona Watt, Deputy Director and holder of the Herschel Smith Professorship of Molecular Genetics, who studies the link between stem cells and cancer. Other research at the Institute ranges from cell biology to imaging and experimental medicine.

Also part of the campus is the the Institute of Metabolic Science (IMS) under the co-directorship of Professors Stephen O'Rahilly and Nick Wareham. Developed as a tri-institutional partnership between the University of Cambridge, the MRC and CUH the Institute is dedicated to research, education, prevention and clinical care in the areas of diabetes, obesity and related metabolic and endocrine diseases, all of which are major and increasing threats to worldwide public health.

Access to the campus

The campus is under considerable pressure. Access and traffic generation are major issues, with over 18,000 traffic movements on site each day. To address this, in 2004, the Trust published its travel plan, Access to Addenbrooke's, outlining plans to promote and increase the range of travel options available to staff, visitors and patients travelling to the hospital.

The Trust has won several awards for its travel plan, including being highly commended in the 2005 National Transport Awards in the category of 'Business Contribution to Sustainable Transport'. The Trust was the first NHS Trust in the country to procure and run a public bus service - the Addenbrooke's Shuttle - and our partnership with Stagecoach and the local councils has made a considerable contribution to increasing the number of staff using buses to come to the campus.

These initiatives have been very successful and although activity on the site increases by 2% (in terms of the number of people arriving on the site) the actual number of cars coming to the campus has fallen quite significantly over the last six years.

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