Barts Health to open breast cancer centre of excellence

Written by: Paul Thomas

24/10/2025

Barts Health has announced that it is going to create a dedicated breast cancer centre of excellence at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the City of London next year.

It will mean thousands of women will benefit from faster diagnosis, safer surgery and fairer access to advanced treatment and reconstruction from these bespoke facilities.

The announcement is great timing as it comes during breast cancer awareness month, during which the North East London Cancer Alliance is working hard on raising awareness of breast cancer signs and symptoms, as well as life-saving breast cancer screening.

This new breast cancer centre, made possible thanks to a £16.6million investment from Barts Charity, is expected to transform outcomes for breast cancer patients across north east London, which currently has the lowest survival rates in the country. The move has been enabled by Nuffield Health’s agreement to sell back the lease on part of the St Bartholomew’s site.

The Barts Health group, which owns the site, will take over two fully equipped hospital buildings including three operating theatres, inpatient beds and consulting rooms.

The Trust expects to treat the first breast cancer patients at the new facility in early 2026 and to consolidate on one site the 1,800 surgeries carried out across the group each year. With excellent potential for further expansion, the facility is expected to handle over 2,000 NHS inpatient and 75,000 outpatient appointments annually across all specialties.

Barts Health has long sought to create a breast cancer centre on the model of its world-leading Barts Heart Centre, which brought three hospitals together in 2015 and has since improved outcomes and treatment times.

While most breast cancer surgery has historically taken place at St Bartholomew’s, the Trust has recently used temporary facilities to meet demand.

The new centre will bring all services, including vital reconstructive surgery, together in a permanent NHS home, improving patient care and freeing up capacity for other patients at The Royal London, Newham, and Whipps Cross hospitals.

Professor Charles Knight OBE, Chief Executive of St Bartholomew's Hospital, said: "We are enormously grateful to Barts Charity and Nuffield Health for helping us realise our ambition of creating a centre of excellence for breast cancer treatment and care.

"As part of our hospital’s 900th anniversary in 2023, we committed to improving outcomes for people with breast cancer in our local communities and this new facility is a major step in turning that vision into reality."

Fiona Miller Smith, Chief Executive of Barts Charity, said: "Our investment of £16.6m in this new breast cancer centre will be a transformative moment for the health of people in East London.

"The impact it will have on breast cancer patients will be huge, and it will also have a ripple effect throughout local health – reducing waiting times and freeing up vital resources for other patients.

"We’re once again proud to support Barts Health with this ambitious vision for the future of East London’s health."

Alex Perry, Chief Executive Officer at Nuffield Heath, said: “This move will enable Barts Health to further enhance breast cancer services in East London and marks a positive conclusion to our partnership with the Trust.

"The facility has already successfully treated thousands of NHS patients and we are pleased that it will continue to do so."