Rather like the city of Cambridge itself, Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (RPH) is compact enough to give you a true sense of belonging, whilst also offering an abundance of opportunities for extensive professional development.
As the UK’s leading heart and lung hospital, treating more than 50,000 patients across Cambridgeshire and the wider regions each year, Royal Papworth’s excellence in the field of cardiothoracic care was formally recognised in 2017, when the hospital was granted Royal status by Her Majesty the Queen. The hospital was also awarded ‘outstanding’ status by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in 2019.
Founded as a tuberculosis ‘colony’ in 1918, Royal Papworth Hospital has since established an international reputation for excellence in research and innovation. The UK’s first successful heart transplant was carried out at the hospital in 1979, and it now performs more heart, heart-lung and lung transplants each year than any other UK centre. In February 2021, Royal Papworth surgeons carried out a world-first paediatric heart transplant technique, in collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Royal Papworth Hospital has the UK’s largest Respiratory Support and Sleep Centre (RSSC) and is one of five UK centres providing ExtraCorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) to patients experiencing severe respiratory failure. It is also the only centre in the UK delivering a number of specialist services including Pulmonary Endarterectomy and Balloon Pulmonary Angioplasty (BPA).
Royal Papworth Hospital is a member of Cambridge University Health Partners (CUHP), a partnership between one of the world’s leading universities and three NHS Foundation Trusts. CUHP delivers world-class excellence in healthcare, research, and clinical education.
Location and Costs of Living
In 2019, the Trust moved to a new, state-of-the-art building on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, the largest centre of medical research and health science in Europe. Just a 10-minute drive from the beautiful historic centre of Cambridge, the hospital is served by good public transport links, with buses running regularly between the site, the city centre, and surrounding towns and villages.
Renowned for its universities and architecture, some of which dates back to the Iron Age, the city of Cambridge itself is a vibrant cultural hub that’s home to a large student population and attracts thousands of tourists every year. Full of museums, art galleries, independent shops and restaurants, and with a pleasant canal running through its centre, Cambridge is one of the most popular places to live in Britain. A large train station in the city centre means there’s easy access to other nearby cities, too, including London and its airports.
Further afield, throughout the county of Cambridgeshire, you’ll find numerous market towns and villages with thriving communities that make them ideal for getting involved in local life and putting down some roots. The county is also home to a wide range of excellent schools, making it a great place for young families to base themselves.
For staff arriving alone, Royal Papworth offers newly refurbished accommodation in Waterbeach, six miles north of Cambridge, where there’s a choice of more than 200 single and en-suite bedrooms. Each room comes with access to large shared communal areas including lounge areas, kitchens and dining rooms, and a free bus service makes getting to work both quick and affordable.
You can find out more about living in Cambridge and its surrounding areas here, and discover what it’s like to work at Royal Papworth hospital on the Trust’s website. To get a sense of how much various goods and services cost in Cambridge, we recommend having a look at the Numbeo website.
