Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals (RB&HH) Specialist Care has opened a new private outpatient and diagnostic facility at 77 Wimpole Street in central London. It follows a recent inspection and approval from the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator for health and social care in England.
Featuring eight consulting rooms and extensive diagnostic services, the new facility will bring the world-renowned expertise of Royal Brompton & Harefield hospitals into the Harley Street medical area – the first NHS specialist trust to open a private facility there. While the premises will be primarily used by private patients, the PET-CT imaging (cardiac, oncology and neurological) service will be shared with the NHS.
The state-of-the-art PET-CT scanner can perform Rubidium cardiac imaging, which provides a faster imaging protocol and less radiation to patients. It is the only one of its type in the South-East and just the second in the whole of the UK. In addition, the diagnostic facilities will include MRI, echocardiography, lung function, non-invasive cardiology facilities and X-ray.
Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust has opened the facility due to increased demand from existing referrers in the area. The new centre will generate valuable income that will be reinvested back into the Trust, helping to improve both NHS and private patient services.
David Shrimpton, managing director of RB&HH Specialist Care, said:
“Over 50 of our leading consultants will be offering clinics at Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospital Outpatients and Diagnostics. It is an exciting step for the Trust and shows that RB&HH’s leading care and services are continuing to drive interest from private patients and healthcare providers, both in the UK and abroad.”
Zohreh Palmer, general manager of Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospital Outpatients and Diagnostics, said:
“The entire development has had the patient experience at its core. Patients’ safety, care and comfort are the common thread between all our services and facilities. We have tasked ourselves to evolve and respond to the changing needs of our patients and healthcare partners.”
By offering dedicated private services and facilities, the Trust is able to treat patients from overseas, as well as those with private health insurance, or those who choose to self-fund.
There are plans to collaborate with other local healthcare providers and to build upon existing relationships with local GPs, embassies and businesses in the area.
The new centre will be open six days a week, 8am to 9pm Mondays to Fridays and 8am to 4.30pm on Saturdays.
A number of leading consultants from the Trust will hold clinics at the centre and are looking forward to extending their practices to this area.
Professor Dudley Pennell, professor of cardiology at the National Heart and Lung Institute and director of non-invasive cardiology at Royal Brompton Hospital, said:
“In order to offer the very best in heart and lung diagnostics our new facility will feature both a cardiovascular MR and a PET-CT scanner. This will provide patients and clinicians with access to a one-stop diagnostic centre with globally-renowned consultants.”
Dr Alex Lyon, consultant cardiologist and heart failure theme lead, said:
“My work allows me to help those with heart failure – improving their quality and length of life. Improved detection and early treatment make a significant difference to patients with this condition, and with the new facility I will be able
to extend my practice to reach even more patients, providing them with rapid diagnosis and a comprehensive treatment plan.”
Dr Pallav Shah, consultant in respiratory medicine, said:
“My role at Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust enables me to investigate the latest procedures in interventional bronchoscopy and apply these to treat disease such as lung cancer, asthma and emphysema. At RB&HH Specialist Care Outpatients and Diagnostics we will have the ability to perform full lung function tests and imaging for rapid diagnosis. The new facility will give respiratory patients greater choice and access to specialist consultants - which means we can help get them on the best treatment path as early as possible.”
For more information visit www.rbhh-specialistcare.co.uk/77-wimpole-street
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Notes to editors:
Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust is the UK’s largest specialist centre for the treatment of heart and lung disease. Working from two sites, Royal Brompton Hospital in Chelsea, West London, and Harefield Hospital, near Uxbridge, the Trust has an international reputation for the expertise of its staff, high standard of care and research success. Experts at the Trust help patients from all age groups who have heart and lung problems and provide some of the most complex surgery and sophisticated treatments available anywhere in the world.
The Trust is the UK’s largest centre for the treatment of adult congenital heart disease and is the country’s leading provider of specialist respiratory care. Over the years the Trust has been responsible for major medical breakthroughs, such as the UK’s first combined heart and lung transplant. It established the UK’s first adult service for cystic fibrosis, which is now one of Europe’s biggest treatment centres for the condition, and has pioneered the use of primary angioplasty for the treatment of heart attacks. Today the Heart Attack Centre at Harefield has one of the fastest arrival-to-treatment times in the UK, a crucial factor in patients’ survival.
As a member of the Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC), in collaboration with Imperial College London, Imperial College Healthcare Trust and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, the Trust helps to drive innovation and improved care for over 1.1 million patients each year in North West London, by aligning the research, education and clinical services of the partner organisations. www.rbht.nhs.uk