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PRESS RELEASE: 11 March 2005

John Hutton MP, Minister of State for Health, visits Addenbrooke’s

On Thursday 17 March, John Hutton MP, Minister of State for Health, visited Addenbrooke’s to meet with staff and to see some of the latest developments on the hospital site.

Diabetic patient Ann Bentley with John Hutton marking the entrance of the new Elective Care, Genetics and Diabetes Centre

As part of his visit, John Hutton checked the early progress of the Elective Care, Genetics and Diabetes Centre, an £85 million development to provide facilities for elective (planned) surgery, helping to reduce the incidence of cancelled operations, and to provide accommodation for genetics and diabetes. He also officially opened the newly extended and relocated Genito-Urinary Medicine (GUM) Clinic.

(From left to right) John Hutton, Dr Chris Sonnex, Consultant in Genito-Urinary Medicine, Dr Mary Archer, Chairman, Dr Chris Carne, Consultant in Genito-Urinary Medicine, and Malcolm Stamp, Chief Executive, opening the new GUM Clinic

Profiles of the facilities John Hutton visited:

Elective Care, Diabetes and Genetics Centre
This £85 million Private Finance Initiative (PFI) development represents the first phase in Addenbrooke’s vision to expand facilities to meet rising demand from the growing local population. The centre will mean additional beds, reduced waiting times and fewer cancelled operations.

The new building will bring together:
The Elective Care Centre
This will provide much-needed extra capacity within theatres and wards for patients undergoing elective surgery.

New and expanded Genetics facilities
This is an ever-increasing and important service which is currently provided in three locations in undersized facilities.

The Cambridge Institute for Diabetes Endocrinology and Metabolism (CIDEM)
This will bring together both clinical work and research within the same facility. It is hoped that the research undertaken in these facilities will translate directly into new therapies for patients. The hospital will benefit from the partnership of the University of Cambridge and the MRC (Medical Research Council) who are joining in this initiative to bring together clinical services and research facilities for diabetes.

What facilities will the new centre have?
- 4 x 32 bed wards and a potential for an extra floor allowing the provision of a further 64 beds in the future
- 2 x inpatient theatres
- 4 x day surgery theatres
- 4 x endoscopy rooms – this will be the re-provision of the Trust’s endoscopy department from its current locality
- a satellite imaging facility
- part of the day surgery unit facility within the centre will be used for the pre-assessment of patients
diabetes and endocrinology outpatient and research facilities genetics laboratories and outpatient facility
- a new sterile services department for the whole of the Trust
- the pre-assessment clinics will enable patients to be admitted on the day of surgery rather than one or two days before. As the centre will be for booked admissions only, this should avoid patients suffering the distressing experience of having operations cancelled

GUM clinic
Patients attend the GUM clinic for advice, information, treatment and counselling for a variety of sexual health issues. Genito-Urinary medicine specialises in genital infections, genital skin conditions, other genital medical and sexual health problems and HIV infection.

The demand for GU medicine services has increased dramatically over the last several years. The 27-year-old clinic was very cramped and needed to expand and modernise to keep up with the growing demand.

The new clinic has 12 consultation/examination rooms, twice the previous number of rooms, and a designated laser and minor operations room. The improved facilities provide patients with a more comfortable visit to the clinic. There is a large reception and waiting area, which has helped to create a more pleasant atmosphere. The extra facilities will also mean that more patients can be treated.

The new purpose built 585m2 GU clinic was completed within 6-month timescale on a roof top site to form part of an integrated clinic within the outpatient department.

For further press/media information contact: PR & Communications Department, Box 53, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QQ; Tel: 01223 274 433; Fax: 01223 257 143; Minicom: 01223 274 604.