A new app to help people find their way around Addenbrooke and Rosie’s hospitals is now available after work was led by patients.
Downloadable from the App Store or Google Play Store, the CUH Directions app allows you to check the route to take to each appointment.
Hospital volunteer Mike, a member of the outpatient experience group, came up with the idea for the CUH Directions app
You don’t have to be on site to do this. Enter your start and end points and the app will show you an illustrated route through the hospitals, with photos of corridors and major landmarks, along with simple text directions that can be magnified or read by a screen reader.
Links to other useful information, including key hospital phone numbers, maps and travel options, are also provided.
The app for iOS or Android devices was the brainchild of hospital volunteer Mike, a member of the outpatient experience group, who led the project alongside hospital staff after conceptualizing it early in lockdown.
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“People were still coming to the hospital for appointments, but all the volunteer guides’ work had to be halted due to the pandemic,” he said.
Mike uses the app outside of Addenbrooke’s
The group spent time making sure it was accessible by conducting testing by the hospital’s learning disability team and volunteer guides, and working with Cam Sight, the charity that supports people with visual impairments and blindness.
Mike added, “We chose this app because it’s simple and easy to use. And once you download it to your smartphone or tablet, there are no additional data costs.”
Ally Perkins, Associate Operations Manager, Outpatient, said: “The app was made possible through the hard work and dedication of Mike and the outpatient experience group. It is a fantastic example of what can be achieved by engaging with our patients, listening to their experiences and ideas, and working with them to make improvements.”
Julian Stanley, Managing Director of Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough said: “Healthwatch Cambridgeshire is impressed with the CUH Directions app and even more so that the project was patient led. I’m sure it will ease some of the anxiety people feel about going to the hospital, especially as the Addenbrooke hospital campus is large and Rosie has her own separate entrance. A guide like this will be very helpful.”
The CUH Directions app is designed to be barrier-free
It was funded by Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust.
Shelly Thake, CEO of ACT said: “The charity is delighted to help launch the new CUH Directions app, kindly funded by ACT supporters. Patients coming into the hospital, including those with visual, learning or learning disabilities, can now find appointments and wards more easily from parking lots and bus terminals.”
