Patients have led the way in a project aimed at making it easier for people to navigate their way around Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie hospitals.

The new CUH Directions app was the idea of hospital volunteer Mike, a member of the Outpatient Experience Group, who led on the project with hospital staff.

Mike explains that the idea for the app came about early on in lockdown, not long after he joined the group.

“People were still coming into the hospital for appointments but all of the volunteer guide work had been forced to stop due to the pandemic.”

So the Outpatient Experience Group started to explore new ways of helping patients find their way independently.

Mike said the group spent a lot of time testing the app to make sure that it was easy to use and accessible for disabled users. This included testing by the hospitals’ learning disabilities team and volunteer guides.

They also worked with Cam Sight, a charity that supports local people living with low vision and blindness, to help make sure the app was accessible for people with sight impairments.

“We worked hard to make sure it was accessible for people," he said.

Adding: “We chose this app because it was simple and easy to use. And once you’ve downloaded it to your smartphone or tablet, there are no extra data costs.”

Once you’ve installed CUH Directions onto your phone, you can check the route you need to take to any appointment. You don’t need to be onsite at the hospital to do this.

The app shows an illustrated route around the hospitals with photos of corridors and key landmarks.

This includes simple text instructions which can be increased in size or read by a screen reader.

The app also contains links to other useful information, including key hospital phone numbers, maps and travel options.