The London Clinic was established by a group of Harley Street doctors; the building was designed by Charles Henry Biddulph-Pinchard and officially opened in 1932 by the
Duchess of York, who was accompanied by the
Duke.[3][4] The
Prince of Wales opened the physiotherapy department in 1989,[5] and
Princess Margaret unveiled the
MRI unit in the radiology department in 1991.[5]
Queen Elizabeth II opened a new cancer centre, built at a cost of £80 million, at the London Clinic in April 2010.[5][6] In 2011,
Princess Alexandra opened the new eye centre.[5] After an inspection in December 2014 by the
Food Standards Agency the organisation was given only two stars, the only hospital in London to perform so poorly,[7] but the poor standard of hygiene was addressed and, after a further inspection in June 2015, the Clinic was awarded five stars.[8]
In November 2015 it secured a £65 million
revolving credit facility from
HSBC which was used to increase theatre capacity, boost technology investment and renovate the radiology and intensive care facilities.[9] In November 2017 the
Care Quality Commission described the design of the new
intensive care unit and the annual multi-faith memorial service, which contributes to end of life services, as areas of "outstanding practice".[10] The new intensive care unit was unveiled by the
Duchess of Cornwall in 2017.[5] The clinic opened a specialist centre for robotic surgery in 2019.[11]
Criticisms
In June 2021, following an unannounced inspection, the
Care Quality Commission (CQC) used their enforcement powers to issue the clinic with a Warning Notice in respect of their failure to provide Good Governance. When the CQC reinspected later that year, they found that not all of their concerns had been addressed and their report specified their monitoring of the failure would continue until fixed.[12] The CQC also found during their inspection, that the Surgical service required improvement and it was "inadequate in [the category of being] well-led".[13]
In 2022, the
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued an Official Reprimand, for the clinic's lack of transparency over a period of six years, for not disclosing part-time
Consultants' referral payments, going back to 2015. The CMA criticised the clinic's approach and said it broke Part 3, of the Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order 2014, with the clinic only summarising payments as "the fair market rate for their services".[14][15]
In March 2024, the
Information commissioner's office confirmed that they were looking into a security breach at the clinic.[16] Speculation that recent patient records have been accessed by an unauthorised member of staff are widespread in the media. At least two senior members of the royal family have been treated at the clinic in 2024.[17] The clinic's website on the subject of personal data, makes clear and confirms we, "only permit access to those with a legitimate power or reason to access your [personal] information".[18] The following day, the clinic issued a statement that if a data breach by staff was found, disciplinary action would follow.[19]