Proposals for a new Renal Building at St George’s Hospital, Tooting
We are excited to share our proposals for a new renal building on the St George’s hospital site in Tooting to care for patients with kidney conditions.
The exciting development will mean that renal inpatient services, currently provided at St Helier Hospital and St George’s Hospital, will be co-located in a new purpose-built facility. Following engagement with staff, patients and local residents, the new specialist centre will bring together expert staff onto one site and provide 24/7 specialist renal care for kidney patients.
The new six-storey state-of-the-art facility, will serve renal patients from south west London, Surrey and its borders.
Following active engagement with the local community, staff and stakeholders on our plans for the new renal building in 2023; we considered all the feedback received and submitted a planning application to the London Borough of Wandsworth Council.
The Council has now approved our plans to build a new renal unit at St George’s Hospital, subject to planning conditions.
Whilst our formal engagement has closed, we are still very keen to hear any views. Please contact us with any questions by emailing us at gesh.comms@stgeorges.nhs.uk
Why are we doing this?
Together St George’s and St Helier hospitals provide one of the largest renal services in the UK, with a range of services for people with kidney conditions across south west London, Surrey and its borders.
With Epsom and St Helier redeveloping its estate to provide a new specialist emergency hospital in Sutton, renal clinicians from both St Helier and St George’s see this as an opportunity to transform how we provide kidney care for our sickest patients and those who require specialist care, through larger teams of specialist staff, and delivering it in a new purpose-built facility on the St George’s Hospital site.
St George’s Hospital was selected as the location of the new renal centre to enable co-location with intensive care, and other important specialist services that can support care for renal patients.
The need and benefits to our patients
By focusing specialist inpatient treatment in one place, this will also allow the outpatient renal teams to further strengthen the care and dialysis services they provide in local hospitals, clinics and at home – where most people would prefer to receive treatment.
The new specialist centre will bring expert staff together onto one site and help us to provide 24/7 care for kidney patients on long-term dialysis requiring inpatient care and for patients who need more complex care such as a kidney transplant.
Focusing specialist kidney care in one location will also open up more opportunities for patients to take part in clinical trials, and for clinicians to gather more valuable data regarding effective treatments.
The development of a purpose-built unit means we can use our resources more effectively, provide more patient beds and increase capacity.
Engagement with patients to date
Before this decision was made, our local commissioners engaged extensively with patients and staff at both hospitals, as well as local people, to explain why we wanted to change how care is delivered and the benefits of the proposed change, as well as to understand any issues and concerns. This included writing to over 3,000 kidney patients, speaking to over 750 patients during 25 visits to kidney clinics, 10 focus groups with equalities groups, two public events and multiple drop-in sessions for staff.
74% of all respondents and 79% of kidney patients who responded in 2021 thought the proposals were either good or very good. The Kidney Patient Associations of both St George’s and St Helier and Surrey also supported the proposals.
The vast majority of renal services will remain where they are – in local hospitals, clinics and at home.
Our proposals
The new renal building will provide:
- A building of the highest environmental standards
- 81 beds including enhanced care and day care beds
- 72% single rooms with ensuite bathrooms
- 24 acute dialysis stations including eight single rooms.
- Landscaped gardens, including spaces for people with reduced mobility
- Dedicated ambulance parking bays,
- Closely located blue badge parking spaces and drop-off spaces
New footpaths and a widened pedestrian entrance will welcome patients to the hospital from the main public road. The development will provide curative spaces for public, patient and staff and provide a vast improvement to the existing environment.
The purpose-built, modern healthcare facility will be designed to offer better experiences for patients and staff, with better access to other specialist services.
The new building will not only improve the environments both internally and externally; but also allow an opportunity to enhance the main entrance and accessibility to St George’s from Blackshaw Road, leading up to the Renal Unit, ITU and Atkinson Morley Wing.
The site
The exciting new centre of excellence will be located on the St George’s Hospital site in Tooting. The building will be located adjacent to the existing Atkinson Morley Wing and new ITU building.
The building sits adjacent to and away from direct line of site of residential houses on Blackshaw Road, ensuring minimal visual impact to residents. There are no existing buildings on the proposed site to warrant disruptive demolition works; the hospital is also not located within a Conservation Area.
