City of London grants planning permission for Nuffield Health at St Bartholomew’s
Leading not-for-profit UK healthcare organisation Nuffield Health has received approval from the City of London to renovate the dilapidated former pathology and residential staff quarters buildings at London’s oldest hospital, St Bartholomew’s. The pathology building developed ‘cult status’ after it had a key role in the second series of the BBC programme Sherlock.
Scheduled to open in 2021, the £60 million new facility will specialise in cardiac surgery, cardiology and general surgery. The new hospital will provide both outpatient and inpatient services in a modern facility.
The site will be physically and operationally independent from Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs St Bartholomew’s hospital, and staffed entirely by Nuffield Health. The arrangement provides Barts Health with a multi-million pound revenue that it will invest back into NHS services and also retains the historic building’s original façade.
Kier have been selected to manage construction of the site with the build scheduled to start in August 2018.
The buildings on the site have been out of operational use for many years. One of these became a cult location for fans of the BBC series Sherlock adaptation after the fictional detective leapt to his ‘death’ from the former pathology building in the final episode of the second series.
As one of the oldest occupied areas of London, Nuffield Health will be working closely with the local council to preserve and protect significant finds and moderate impact on the local area. Archaeologists have already uncovered a number of artefacts nearby including more than 100 skeletons from burials dating from the time of Roman occupation.
The development – which will be the only independent hospital in the City of London - is designed to provide 48 beds, four of the most advanced operating theatres and 28 consultation rooms.
Steve Gray, Chief Executive Officer said: “This is an exciting development for London. We will be working alongside one of the largest heart hospitals in Europe and some of the very best consultants. By connecting up with our existing fitness and wellbeing clubs and the numerous workplace wellbeing facilities we run in London, we can provide more people with consistently excellent, personalised care in a modern setting.”
Alwen Williams, Chief Executive of Barts Health NHS Trust said: "This is an excellent opportunity for our patients to directly benefit from private patient activity at Nuffield Health as we invest surpluses generated to the Trust back into our NHS services.”
Within the London area, Nuffield Health operates three medical centres in the area and 20 fitness and wellbeing clubs. In addition, the organisation is the largest provider of employee wellbeing programmes, with more than 60 corporate fitness and wellbeing centres in the capital, helping organisations improve the health and wellbeing of their employees.