Barts wings renamed ahead of breast centre opening
Two hospital wings at St Bartholomew’s have been handed back to the NHS and given new names ahead of reopening to patients in early 2026.
The buildings will house a state-of-the-art breast cancer centre, giving thousands of women across east London faster diagnosis, safer surgery, and better access to advanced treatment and reconstruction in modern, purpose-built facilities.
The Barts Health group, which owns the site, took back the fully equipped buildings on 12 December, after they had previously been leased to Nuffield Health for private care. They include three operating theatres, inpatient beds and consulting rooms.
The inpatient building will be called the Smithfield Wing, while outpatients will be seen in the Giltspur Wing, reflecting the hospital’s City of London location.
The names fit with the wider St Bartholomew’s estate, where hospital buildings are traditionally organised around the main square, including the North, East, and West wings. Historically, the buildings were home to NHS pathology services and staff residences.
Funded by £16.6 million from Barts Charity, the centre is expected to handle over 2,000 inpatients and 75,000 outpatient appointments each year.
Barts Health has long aimed to create a breast cancer centre modelled on its world-leading Barts Heart Centre, which brought three hospitals together in 2015 and improved outcomes and treatment times.
That ambition was a central part of the hospital’s 900th anniversary campaign in 2023 and has now been realised.
The centre is expected to treat its first patients early next year, with the exact date to be announced in due course.
Pictured: the two hospital buildings on the St Bartholomew's Hospital estate; a scanner to be used for NHS care. Both images courtesy of Barts Charity.
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