Nuffield Health at St Bartholomew’s Hospital has opened, providing a unique cardiac care pathway for private patients and specialising in cancer care, orthopaedics, and women’s healthcare.

The £70m hospital has been built in collaboration with Barts Health NHS Trust, which runs St Bartholomew’s Hospital, and will share consultants, with surpluses generated from private patient activity invested back into NHS services.

The development is part of Nuffield Health’s health and wellbeing campus, with patients also having access to the new medical, fitness, and wellbeing centre in the Barbican, providing connected prehabilitation and rehabilitation as well as mental wellbeing services.

The new 55-bed hospital, designed by Scott Tallon Walker Architects, is split over two buildings and supported by seven intensive care beds and a wide range of diagnostic and physiotherapy services, including 26 consultation rooms.

Uniquely in the independent sector, the new hospital’s cardiac care pathway also includes cardiac rehabilitation services, with patients assigned one physiotherapist and one clinical nurse specialist to support them from diagnosis through treatment and then onto rehabilitation.

And consultants from St Barts will benefit from operating theatres featuring in-built live streaming capabilities, providing world-class training opportunities and clinical knowledge sharing.

The hospital, in the grounds of St Barts was formed from the renovation of the former pathology unit and residential staff quarters.

Jonathan Canham, business development director and interim hospital director, said: “We are delighted to open the doors to our new hospital, the first and only independent hospital in the City of London community.

“Nuffield Health’s 37th hospital in the UK, it complements the internationally-leading cardiac care delivered at the neighbouring St Bartholomew’s Hospital.

“Our private patients will have access to many leading consultants within cardiac, cancer, orthopaedics, and women’s healthcare.”

Dame Alwen Williams, Barts Health NHS Trust group chief executive, added: “Our partnership with Nuffield Health has breathed new life into our historic buildings, while surpluses generated from private patient activity will be invested back into NHS services, benefiting patients across east London.”