New Renal Unit Proposed for St. George's Hospital

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Six storey facility would be built on car park

CGI of planned renal unit at St George's Hospital. Picture: BDP Architects/St George\'s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

January 9, 2025

A St. George’s Hospital could open a new centre for kidney patients as part of a major revamp. The new renal unit in Tooting, would transform kidney treatment for patients across south west London if the plans are approved by Wandsworth Council.

Renal services currently provided at both St George’s, and St Helier Hospital, in Sutton, would be moved to the new unit under the plans from St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (SGUH). The proposed move aims to improve care and dialysis services for kidney patients.

Application documents said the two existing renal units, which serve a population of around 2.7 million people, suffer from long-term underinvestment. The documents added this has resulted in the buildings ‘not being fit for purpose and neither service is as efficient as it should be’.

The new renal unit would be built on a former car park at the hospital to the south east of the Atkinson Morley Wing. It would be a six-storey building with 89 beds across inpatient wards, including higher acuity beds, day care beds and bariatric beds. It would also have 24 acute dialysis stations, a surgical ward, offices and a courtyard garden with seats for staff and visitors to use.

The documents said, “The new specialist centre will bring expert staff together onto one site and help the trust 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 renal 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 that resources can be used more effectively and provide more patient beds and increase capacity for treatments.”

Council officers have recommended the scheme for approval, after ruling it would represent a ‘meaningful and much-needed expansion of critical healthcare infrastructure’ in Wandsworth. The authority’s Planning Committee will make a final decision on January 14.

CGI of interior of planned renal unit at St George's Hospital. Picture: BDP Architects/St George\'s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The plans are part of the trust’s 2021-2031 estate strategy, which sets out an eight-phase plan to replace existing buildings at the hospital. Phase zero involves the construction of a new intensive care unit, which was approved by the council in August. The new renal unit would follow as phase one of the plan, if it is green-lit by the council.

Dr James Marsh, group deputy chief executive for St George’s, Epsom and St Helier, said: “This is an exciting, once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve the quality of kidney care to people in South-West London and Surrey. Our proposal would bring together the best of our two excellent renal services in a state-of-the-art, purpose-built renal hospital at St George’s – to deliver the vast majority of care close to people’s homes.”