Plans to build ground-breaking children's health centre in Sheffield receive positive response

Government ministers, MPs and Whitehall officials were briefed on plans for the Sheffield Children’s Hospital Centre for Child Health Technology (CCHT), a £20m facility billed as the most advanced and largest child health technology centre in the world.

If approved, the centre will be built on Sheffield’s Olympic Legacy Park – on the site of the former Don Valley Stadium in Attercliffe – and will provide healthcare for children and young people while building on pioneering treatments already developed by the Sheffield Children’s Hospital and other specialist hospitals across the country.

This includes therapies for injuries and a range of conditions such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy and mental health along with new and advanced approaches to child health prevention.

Richard Caborn, former Minister of Sport and project lead for the Olympic Legacy Park, said: “At a time when the government is looking to step-up health care and hospitals, we could not have been better received.

“There was great enthusiasm for our scheme from a range of MPs, civil servants and representatives of key funding and health organisations.”

Following the Westminster briefing, Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts will now ask for a meeting with the Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock.

Professor of Child Health and Director of Research and Innovation at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Paul Dimitri, said: “The meeting brought together key politicians and policymakers to support the development of the centre to ensure that the UK is a world leader in child health technology,” said Professor Paul Dimitri, Professor of Child Health and Director of Research & Innovation at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.”

The facility will be part of the focus on medical innovations at the Olympic Legacy Park, delivered as part of the wider Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation District (AMID) Medical Innovation Campus.

Prof Dimitri added: “The CCHT will provide a truly immersive environment bringing together leading global industry partners, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), academics, clinicians, designers, computer scientists, and engineers directly with patients and their families, providing rapid knowledge transfer for digital and technology development.

“Early years intervention using new, innovative, technological solutions has the potential to greatly improve the health of children as they mature, whilst demonstrating significant savings in the NHS.

“Long-term conditions in childhood, including asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, neurodisability and mental health disorders affect millions of children and cost the NHS billions of pounds annually. New technological ways of delivering children’s healthcare has the potential to save the NHS millions of pounds.”