On Thursday 17 January, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock visited the latest NHS service to open in Finchley Memorial Hospital (FMH).
Matt Hancock said: “I am hugely impressed by how the new breast screening clinic in Finchley is designed around the patient to make their experience as comfortable and convenient as possible.
“As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, backed by an extra £20.5 billion a year by 2023/24, 55,000 more people will survive cancer through earlier detection and better treatment.
“Screening will play a vital role in achieving this and Finchley is an example of best practice that I want to see adopted across the country.”
In collaboration with Barnet Clinical Commissioning Group and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, and in delivery of the CCG’s transformational project in Finchley, Community Health Partnerships (CHP) funded and delivered the works to adapt the space in the Hospital to permanently house the breast screening service. The clinic is home to the Hologic 3D imaging system, which is the most technologically advanced mammography scanner available.
Mark Day, Acting Chief Executive, Community Health Partnerships, who is responsible for the management of Finchley Memorial Hospital, said: “We are delighted to be able to play a part in enabling this vital service to be offered in the heart of the Finchley community, and for it to be permanently housed in one of our modern healthcare facilities.
“CHP has invested around £1million of capital to support the CCG in delivering its transformation of services at Finchley Memorial Hospital, £300k of which was invested to create the mammography unit.”
The clinic, which was previously situated in a mobile unit within the grounds of FMH, moved to its new location within the hospital in August 2018. Locating the service within a permanent building means the service can offer better appointment flexibility, reliable transport connections and safety. Mobiles units can be expensive to maintain or replace, in the long term, a permanent site is more cost effective.
Sir David Sloman, group chief executive of the Royal Free London, said: “We were delighted to have the Secretary of State officially open this clinic at Finchley Memorial Hospital. Using the latest technology to deliver the very best care to our patients is a key priority for the trust. We are, therefore, incredibly proud that this clinic is home to the latest 3D scanning machine and we were pleased to explain to the Secretary of State the benefits this new clinic offers to women using the service.”
Finchley Memorial Hospital was developed via the NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) PPP programme with a combined public and private capital investment of £30 million.
