London's Cromwell Hospital plans expansion as more NHS doctors seek private work

Hospital will open its new facility, including radiotherapy, an MRI scanner and an operating theatre in 2024

Cromwell Hospital is planning to expand, with a new building set to open in 2024 Photo: Bupa

One of London’s leading private hospitals is expanding, enabled by an increase in NHS doctors seeking private work.

In an exclusive interview with The National, the Cromwell Hospital’s chief executive, Philip Luce, announced it had acquired a new building, expected to open in 2024.

“There has been an increase in demand, both from patients seeking to turn to us as a hospital, but also consultants who want to practise at this hospital,” he said.

This week NHS consultants in England voted to go on strike next month in a dispute over pay.

As part of a series on global health care, The National has spent months speaking to doctors, hospital managers and patients from the UK and overseas, to track shifts in how people are treated. As the public health service experiences record waiting times, growing number of patients are embracing private health care.

Bupa's Cromwell Hospital is a popular choice for patients from the Gulf – where treatment is usually paid for by their governments. About a third of the hospital's patients come from overseas.

Many of the hospital’s staff dealing with international patients speak Arabic, and there is a translated version of the hospital’s website.

A former 82-room hotel next to the hospital in Kensington will be repurposed into a facility for outpatient and inpatient care, in the Cromwell's biggest expansion since it opened in 1981.

It will include additional consulting rooms, a new operating theatre, MRI scanner and cardiac catheter lab – used for testing patients with heart conditions. The number of new consulting rooms and beds is not yet decided.

The hospital’s existing radiotherapy and physiotherapy departments will also be moved to the new building, including the chemotherapy day unit.

Mr Luce said: “We will be able to refresh the areas which house those departments at the moment and create a new environment. Both the new building and the old building will have been completely refurbished within six years.”

Like many other London private hospitals, the Cromwell’s success rests partly on the reputation of its consultants, who are often regarded as pioneers in their field in the capital’s NHS teaching hospitals.

“When a consultant wants to practise with us, they will bring with them patients who are seeking them out,” Mr Luce added.

Of the estimated 3,000 consultants working privately in Central London, 600 brought in 80% of shared consultant revenues in 2021, according to Laingbuisson, a healthcare business intelligence company.

The UK is plagued by medical staff shortages as nurses and junior doctors seek better pay and working hours overseas.

The Cromwell Hospital’s investment in technology such as a Da Vinci XI for robot-assisted surgeries, and radiotherapy with cancer specialists GenesisCare is among the reasons consultants chose to work there, said Mr Luce.

“We can provide innovative care [and] attract the consultants who are working at the major London university hospitals, and who are practising at the very-near peak of their profession,” he said.

The hospital’s MRI-Linear Accelerator (MRI-LiNac) – which combines imaging technology and radiotherapy to target tumours with extreme precision – was the first of its kind at a private hospital in London, and the first in the capital to treat patients outside research, said Mr Luce.

“It will deliver the radiotherapy specifically to the tumour and not to the surrounding tissue. So if the patient breathes or moves, it won’t deliver the radiotherapy until the target is really in the field,” said Sarah Frankton, the hospital’s medical director.

“Most NHS hospitals won’t necessarily have access to it unless they’re specialist cancer centres like the Royal Marsden,” said Dr Frankton.

More patients are paying out of their own pockets for private care, as they seek alternatives to the NHS and its record waiting lists.

Last year, 272,000 patients paid for their own treatment, which is 27 per cent more than in 2019 and the highest on record, according to the Private Healthcare Information Network.

Mr Luce said the areas of growth for the Cromwell Hospital include cancer and orthopaedics. An estimated 320,000 patients were waiting for cancer treatment as of June 2022, and private hospitals are overtaking the NHS for hip and knee replacements.

But there is plenty of competition as private hospitals across the capital continue to increase their capacity.

The 184-bed Cleveland Clinic London will open a new outpatient and diagnostics centre with MRI scanners in the city this year.

At the Cromwell, payment and treatment packages have been devised to meet demand from patients seeking private care for the first time. “There’s a suite of options available, whereas in the past, it was more simply pay as you go,” Mr Luce said.

The hospital is also working with insurance companies to create “niche patient pathways”. Dr Frankton described the pathway experience as “a one-stop clinic.” Breast cancer patients, for example, could have all of their diagnostics tests done on the same day.

“They don't have to wait for a diagnosis. If it is bad news, they can start their treatments as soon as possible. That takes a lot of anxiety out of it for the patients,” she said.

Community outreach was also evolving from traditional word-of-mouth referrals to advertising and digital campaigns, as well as hospital visits and educational events, Luce said. “We’re known as the local hospital for the Kensington and Chelsea community,” he said, pointing to the hospital’s combination of adult and children’s services.

“That makes us really attractive to that local community because we can meet the requirements of the entire family,” he said.

The hospital has opened two new facilities for non-life threatening urgent care this year.

A walk-in clinic for urgent appointments – the sixth to open at a private hospital in London in recent years – welcomed its 100th patient last Sunday, having opened on June 5th.

Urgent care is one level down from accident and emergency services, and patients with life-threatening illnesses must call 999 or go to the nearest NHS emergency department immediately.

“It’s a slick service, and it’s a very nice place to work as well, because it’s efficient,” said Frankton, who specialises in acute medicine and also works in the NHS. "It's really nice to be able to give patients the care that you want to give them.”

Treatment at the walk-in centre is not yet covered by insurance. “Insurance companies are not really used to covering unscheduled care, we are working with them to get that sorted out,” she said.

In May, the hospital launched its acute admissions unit, a 24-hour service allowing doctors to refer acutely unwell patients for immediate care at the hospital, and it includes a private ambulance service.

The hospital opened its first intensive care unit during the Covid-19 pandemic.