HERITAGE BUILDINGS, 21ST-CENTURY HEALTHCARE

HERITAGE BUILDINGS, 21 ST-CENTURY HEALTHCARE

1 At fi rst glance, Harley Street seems an unlikely location for world-class hospitals and clinics, but the area is home to numerous top-quality private facilities (PHOTO: HdWE)

If, today, a group of forward-thinking experts started planning a modern medical campus from scratch – and right now, around the world, that is exactly what many governments and well-funded private institutions are doing – it is highly unlikely that it would end up looking much like the Harley Street Medical Area (HSMA), from the outside at least. But despite the logistical challenges caused by its attractive period buildings and highly regulated central London setting, the HSMA is managing to do more than keep pace with the glass towers and open spaces of the world’s new generation of out-of-town medical mega-complexes; it is, certainly in the depth and quality of its medical o ering, beginning to lead the way.

For well over a decade, in its role as the area’s landlord and steward, The Howard de Walden Estate (HdWE) has been slowly improving its buildings and infrastructure, creating a strong HSMA brand and shaping a cohesive and well-balanced community of providers. In recent years, this hard work has led to a dramatic step-change in the HSMA’s global profi le. There have long been world-class hospitals here – The London Clinic, King Edward VII’s Hospital and HCA among them – but the fl ow of new arrivals in the past few years means that these stalwarts now fi nd themselves part of an increasingly impressive collective, unmatched anywhere else in the UK and far beyond.

The USA’s two highest-performing and most forward-thinking non-profi t academic medical centres are both on their way. As part of a wider collaboration with the University of Oxford, Mayo Clinic has opened a screening and diagnostics centre on Portland Place, and Cleveland

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2 The Fortius Clinic specialises in orthopaedic care and sports medicine (PHOTO: FORTIUS CLINIC) | 3 The hospitals and clinics of the Harley Street Medical Area attract highly trained sta (PHOTO: HdWE) | 4 The da Vinci robotic surgical system at King Edward VII‘s Hospital (PHOTO: KING EDWARD VII‘S HOSPITAL) | 5-6 The facades of the Harley Street Medical Area‘s historic buildings hide a plethora of world-class medical facilities (PHOTO: HdWE)

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Clinic has chosen to locate its diagnostic and outpatient facility, where most patients begin and end their treatment journeys, on the same wide Georgian street – the latter is due to open in October 2020. Similarly, one of Germany’s most respected hospital groups, Schoen Clinic, chose the HSMA as the site for the first clinic it has built outside of its home country, which opened last year.

From closer to home, some of the biggest and most respected names in British medicine have either arrived recently or are on their way. Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospitals and Moorfields Eye Hospital have both set up private facilities here, and they will be joined in 2020 by the private arm of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust – one of the UK’s leading cancer hospitals. The Priory has joined our impressive roll call of mental health experts. Advanced Oncotherapy, a pioneer in the field of proton beam therapy, is on its way. The list goes on and on.

Abundance of expertise

This flow of expertise into the area has now developed a momentum all of its own. As the collective grows in strength and its profile rises accordingly, its appeal becomes further enhanced, and the cycle continues. The HSMA has so much going for it – located in the middle of one of the world’s best-connected cities, surrounded by universities, research institutions and

royal societies, with access to highly trained sta and a large population of potential patients – and clinics know that the nature of the collective means they can collaborate with each other and explore their mutual interests, without having to compromise their own individual identities. As a result of all this, the challenge for the HSMA now is not finding world-class providers to join the collective, it is finding the space to accommodate them.

Thriving collective

Against a backdrop of intense competition from around the world, it is thanks to the impressive pulling power of its collective that the Harley Street Medical Area is able to thrive. Proven providers, that cover a vast array of specialisms, employ some of the most respected practitioners in their fields, invest in cutting-edge equipment, contribute to game-changing research, provide a truly exceptional patient experience, and focus relentlessly on tracking, analysing and improving the quality of their outcomes.

Nobody planning a modern medical campus from scratch would come up with anything that looks quite like the HSMA, but they would definitely hope to emulate the professionalism, resourcefulness and expertise found in the parts of it that really matter: the parts where patients and medical professionals come face to face.