St Bartholomew's Hospital
West Smithfield
London
EC1A 7BE
St Bartholomew’s is an internationally-renowned hospital based in the heart of the City of London. We are rated 'good' by the CQC.
Being treated at a world-leading centre of excellence means you are cared for by internationally-renowned doctors and nurses, using the very latest techniques and equipment.
The hospital has a spacious layout designed around the needs of patients and staff. The environment is designed to reduce noise. The hospital offers a temperature controlled environment ventilated with fresh air that is specially treated before it enters the building to reduce the risk of airborne infection.
The hospital’s modern and state of the art facilities include 10 theatres, 10 catheter labs, 227 inpatient beds with around 90 critical care beds and 108 day case accommodation all supported by 1,800 dedicated staff. Unlike other hospitals it provides 24/7 consultant on-call services to specialist services.
We have an exceptional knowledge of heart disorders within our teams, together with the diversity of treatment facilities needed to treat the wide range of conditions that are presented.
Despite the high volumes of activity we see, our patients are more than a number. Each of them receives personalised care based on their needs and, with so many patients seen here each year, there is rarely a problem we haven’t come across before. Our team has the experience to cope with all eventualities.
Barts Heart Centre benefits from having a large number of dedicated services to support it – such diagnostic and imaging teams that specialise in understanding cardiac symptoms. It includes, for instance, the largest echo, cardiac CT service and TAVI service in the UK; Europe’s largest arrhythmia service; and, the world’s largest cardiac MRI service with 8,000 scans per year.
The Barts Heart Centre also forms part of the UCLPartners Academic Health Science Network, facilitating research, development and collaboration across a wide group of healthcare providers and academic institutions.
Our breast imaging and screening facilities at St Bartholomew’s are second to none. With four imaging rooms and three ultrasound rooms and MRI facilities on site, we are able to help women at all stages of the screening process. Our specialist nurses and counsellors help women through our “one stop” breast imaging service and our breast screening service. Most women are able to walk away after just a couple of hours with analysed results in their hand. For those who need treatment, this can be arranged quickly and easily at the same time as your appointment.
You will be provided with all your meals and refreshments in your private room. However, should you or your relatives wish to venture further afield there are multiple venues serving food and drink in the hospital (and many more nearby though off-site):
Chaplains of many faiths are available to speak to all patients, relatives and carers. Information about your religious preference will be passed to the chaplaincy. If you do not wish this to happen, please inform a member of staff.
The Guild Shop, run by the Barts Friends, can be found on the ground floor of the KGV building. It sells toiletries, confectionery, newspapers and magazines, cards and hospital souvenirs. It opens Monday to Friday, 8.30am-4pm. Opening hours may be subject to change.
A post box can be found at the Henry VIII Gate entrance.
Private inpatients at St Bartholomew’s have their own room, with an ensuite accessible bathroom. Rooms are each equipped with their own TV, chairs and access to WiFi. Fruit, biscuits and tea / coffee are provided in every room and refreshed daily. Our menu choices, which vary every day, offer a range of different meals according to your taste and dietary requirements.
St Bartholomew's Hospital is located in the City of London, close to St Paul’s Cathedral. You can travel to hospital in a number of ways including on foot, by car, by bike or by public transport.
The main switchboard number for Barts Health is: 0207 3777 000
The Private Patient Team at St Bartholomew's Hospital, can be contacted by: phone on 0203 7658 887 or 0203 7658 751 or email us.
By bus
The following buses stop outside or close to the hospital: numbers 4, 8, 25, 56, 172 and 242.
Low-floor wheelchair accessible buses run on all routes serving St Bartholomew's.
The closest tube stations are Barbican, Blackfriars, Farringdon and St Paul's. All stations are between 5 and10 minutes’ walk away. Barbican and Farringdon are served by the Hammersmith and City line, Metropolitan line and Circle line. Blackfriars is served by the Circle line and District line. St Paul's is served by the Central Line.
The nearest National Rail stations are Blackfriars, Cannon Street, City Thameslink and Farringdon. All are located within walking distance of the hospital. Liverpool Street station is a short tube, bus or taxi ride away.
We encourage patients not to drive to the hospital as there is no public parking available. If you do need to drive, there is a multi-storey car park close to the hospital on West Smithfield, which is run by the City of London.
The drop-off and pick-up point is in the Square, accessed via King Henry VIII Gate on Giltspur Street or the hospital entrance on Little Britain.
St Bartholomew's Hospital is situated within the congestion charging zone. All patients/visitors who drive to the hospital are therefore required to pay the charge, although there are some exemptions and discounts. These include:
A full list of categories of drivers/vehicles eligible for exemptions and details of how to pay the charge can be found on the Transport for London congestion charging website.
To qualify for an exemption or discount you must register with Transport for London.
As a patient or visitor, you are probably aware of the redevelopment taking place at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Due to this redevelopment, several of the disabled parking bays located in Bartholomew Close have been taken out of use. We apologise for this inconvenience to our patients and visitors. To view parking available to disabled users and all other parking surrounding St Bartholomew's please visit the City of London website.
We encourage visitors and staff living nearby to cycle to the hospital if possible. Santander cycle hire docking points are available outside the hospital on West Smithfield /Giltspur Street.
The state-of-the-art Barts Heart Centre is located in the King George V wing of the hospital.