Royal Papworth Hospital

08/06/2026

You could help shape the future of Royal Papworth Hospital 🏥💙

No matter where you are in England and Wales, you can make a difference by becoming a public governor.

As a foundation trust, we have a Council of Governors - a collective body made up of staff members, patients and the public who use their skills and experience to support the work of the trust.

Governors have an important role to play in ensuring that the views of patients and foundation trust members are represented when important decisions are made.

We have vacancies in all our public governor constituencies:
• Cambridgeshire x 2
• Suffolk x 2
• Norfolk x 1
• Rest of England and Wales x 3

It is important that those who sit on the Council are from a variety of backgrounds and therefore previous experience of working or volunteering within a hospital setting is not required.

Watch this short video about the role of our governors, then head to our website for more information: https://royalpapworth.nhs.uk/our-hospital/latest-news/governor-roles-available-2026

Nominations close at 17:00 on Monday 22 June.

07/06/2026

Resident doctors from the British Medical Association (BMA) are taking strike action later this month with a full, four-day walk-out from 07:00 on Monday 15 June until 06:59 on Friday 19 June.

⚠️ If you are booked for an appointment, procedure or operation during these four days and we have not contacted you, please attend your appointment as planned.

If you are booked for an appointment or procedure during this time and we have not contacted you, please attend your appointment as planned

06/06/2026

“Good morning, Royal Papworth…” 📞

If you’ve ever rung our hospital, you’ll recognise the warm friendly voices of our switchboard team.

This team sits at the heart of our trust, managing calls efficiently and calmly, using their expert knowledge to guide callers to the right place: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year.

On average they answer 21,533 calls each month, with an impressive average answer time of just seven seconds.

In addition to handling calls, their role includes managing bleeps, booking taxis, monitoring alarms and allocating new extension numbers.

Thank you to everyone in our switchboard team for your dedication, compassion and professionalism, especially in emergencies. Your work is essential to the smooth running of our hospital. 💙

05/06/2026

Helping relatives of our heart and lung patients to understand critical care 🫀🫁

We have installed smart new artwork within critical care to help provide friends and family with a calm, welcoming and informative environment.

At what is often a highly stressful time for visitors, the new artwork provides helpful details about visiting the department, our teams who work in this area and infographics that explain more about the equipment people may see being used at the bedside.

Lisa Fontes, deputy sister / deputy charge nurse, was one of the driving forces behind the project. She said, "What started as a staff discussion to improve the relatives' room has resulted in a true team effort.

"I'm incredibly grateful to everyone who played a part in creating a more welcoming and supportive environment for our patients and their loved ones.

"Early feedback has been very positive, particularly regarding the large infographic panels explaining the equipment commonly seen within critical care.

"Many staff members agree these have been a helpful and visually engaging way to support relatives' understanding of the environment during what's often a very stressful time."

Thank you to all our teams who have been involved in this project and to Royal Papworth Hospital Charity for their funding and support. 💙

03/06/2026

Donald is one of our ward visitor volunteers and is always ready to help, bringing invaluable insight into the patient experience.

His ability to put patients at ease, listen attentively and offer support makes him an exceptional presence on the wards, especially later in the day when he provides companionship and comfort to those who might otherwise have few or no visitors.

Donald is one of 78 amazing volunteers at Royal Papworth, who between them give hundreds of hours of their time to ensure we can continue to offer the very best care.

From meeting and greeting patients and assisting ward staff by offering patients extra support and companionship, to promoting health research, volunteering as a patient safety partner or volunteering with fundraising activities, each hour of volunteering makes a positive difference to our staff, patients and services.

Thank you to Donald and all our volunteers for their continued invaluable efforts. 💙

01/06/2026

Improving care for people living with interstitial lung disease 🫁

Our specialist interstitial lung disease (ILD) team have piloted a new way of working that’s made a real difference for patients across the East of England.

ILD is an umbrella term for more than 200 conditions that affect the lung tissue. It affects a few thousand people annually, with patients predominantly receiving treatment and care in local and specialised centres, such as our hospital.

Funding from Health Innovation East allowed the introduction of a monthly online meeting between a multidisciplinary team of experts, which enabled clinicians from across the region to discuss patients under their care with our specialist teams.

Over the 12-month pilot, 157 patients were discussed through the regional meetings, with benefits including:

- More timely diagnosis for patients – this is important as early diagnosis and treatment can help slow disease progression.

- Improved access to specialist treatments and medicines.

- The provision of care closer to home, which is one the government’s priorities for its 10-year health plan.

- 29% of patients in this pilot were able to continue treatment at their local hospital, avoiding unnecessary travel to our hospital.

- The pilot also helped to reduce health inequalities by addressing significant geographic variation in access to ILD services across the region.

As a result of this pilot, ongoing funding has now been secured to allow a permanent regional MDT service to be created.

Congratulations to our ILD team and everyone involved in this brilliant, collaborative project, transforming what is possible for patients with ILD. 💙

30/05/2026

Our National Organ Retrieval Service (NORS) team is the busiest organ retrieval service in the UK. 🫀🫁🚑

They travel all over the country, at whatever time of day is required, to retrieve donor hearts and lungs and help save lives.

Once we are notified that there is potentially a suitable heart or lung - altruistically donated by an individual and their loved ones - for a patient on our heart or lung transplant waiting lists, this team are deployed to retrieve and inspect the organ.

If the organ is assessed and deemed to be of good enough quality, it will be brought back ready to be transplanted into the grateful recipient at Royal Papworth.

And they don't just retrieve hearts and lungs for our own patients on the transplant waiting lists, but they sometimes do this for other hospitals too, often travelling hundreds of miles often late at night or on weekends.

Already renowned for their expertise in complex donation after circulatory death (DCD) and paediatric retrievals, in recent times the team also launched its ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) programme, significantly increasing lung utilisation and transplantation rates.

Thank you to everyone involved in the team. Through your skills, innovation and teamwork you’ve set the global benchmark for organ retrieval services. 💙

29/05/2026

We absolutely loved reading this heartwarming story this morning about a new outdoor intensive care ward opening on the roof of King's College Hospital NHS in London.

Exposure to fresh air, natural daylight and nature can absolutely boost patient wellbeing and it reminds us of our own early history, as a colony for tuberculosis (TB) patients following the First World War.

Even back then fresh air was believed to be central to recovery, including in winter, with early photographs showing patients' beds pushed outside on balconies and others living in wooden TB huts in our hospital grounds. You can see a few of these in the comments below.

We're fortunate that many of our patients today are still able to take advantage of green spaces around our hospital and our duck pond, to reconnect with nature and benefit from their outdoor surroundings. On occasions this also includes some of our sickest patients, supported superbly by our teams.

Congratulations again to the team at King's College Hospital for creating this incredible space, ensuring some of their most seriously ill patients can cared for safely, outdoors. 💙👏

The outdoor ward, at King's College Hospital in London, will monitor how much it boosts the recovery of seriously ill patients.

28/05/2026

New fluffy arrivals 🐣

Our team of feathered friends has welcomed some adorable ducklings over the last day or so.

A lovely sight around our duck pond for patients and staff to enjoy 🦆💙