Cambridge Children's Hospital needs to bridge £184m funding gap

A UK children's hospital proposing to be a "world first" must bridge a £184m funding gap, documents have revealed.

Cambridge Children's Hospital, which plans to bring mental and physical health services under one roof, has not been accepted as one of the government's 40 promised new hospitals.

Board papers show further money is needed to achieve the projected costs of £409m.

A project spokeswoman said funding a site of this scale was "challenging".

The East of England is currently the only region in the country to not have a hospital dedicated to the care of children and plans were given the go-ahead by the local council last year.

Hospital project leaders claim its aim of bringing services together would be done in "a way no-one ever has before" and it would care for children and young people from Bedfordshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, as well as Cambridgeshire.

It is a joint venture between Cambridge University, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT).

Papers for CPFT's board meeting next week revealed £41m of the £100m philanthropy fundraising aim has been achieved, while £25m is planned through CPFT land sale and funding for a school in the hospital.

They stated that while £100m of government funding was committed in 2018, "due to insufficient funding headroom [the hospital] has not been accepted into the new hospital programme".

"Consequently the current £184m funding gap is required to be resolved," they said.

The papers added that a "substantial programme of work" was needed, including "developing more robust proposals concerning sources of capital funding and cost reductions".

Last year, the BBC reported that CPFT, a mental health trust, had to pay Homes England compensation over its delayed relocation to the new hospital.

A spokeswoman for the Cambridge Children's Hospital project said: "We are making significant progress with our plan to build a brand new children's hospital for the East of England, which for the first time will bring mental and physical health together, under one roof.

"Funding a project of this scale is challenging, particularly with inflation costs. We are working closely with NHS England on the funding streams for the hospital and our outline business case will be reviewed further in September.

"We are on track to meet our target of £100m of philanthropy."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was awarded up to £100m in 2018 for the new Cambridge Children's Hospital.

"Final funding allocations for schemes are only confirmed once their full business case has been reviewed and agreed, including by HM Treasury.

"We continue to work closely with the NHS and the Trust to improve services and support them in the development of the scheme."

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