HCA Healthcare UK has expanded CAR T-cell therapy to The Christie Private Care in Manchester, making it the first independent provider outside London to offer the treatment.

HCA Healthcare UK is the UK subsidiary of HCA Healthcare, Inc (NYSE: HCA), the world's largest for-profit hospital operator. HCA UK has provided CAR T-cell therapy in London since 2019 and in 2025 became one of the first providers to offer the treatment for multiple myeloma. 

The Christie Private Care is a Manchester-based independent oncology facility operating alongside the NHS Christie Hospital, the largest cancer centre in Europe, and is wholly owned within the HCA Healthcare UK network. The treatment is now available for eligible patients across seven indications: relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma, high-grade B-cell lymphoma, primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma, multiple myeloma and B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Advisors: none mentioned.

The structural driver is NHS access constraint for a treatment that costs approximately £280,000 per patient. NICE has approved CAR T-cell therapy across several indications through the Cancer Drugs Fund, but delivery capacity is constrained by a limited number of specialised NHS centres and the three-to-six-week manufacturing window, during which some patients deteriorate beyond eligibility. Private provision does not require Cancer Drugs Fund funding, allowing eligible patients who can self-fund or whose PMI covers advanced therapies to access treatment without joining NHS centre waiting lists.

The Christie Private Care's position as a specialist oncology facility integrated with the NHS Christie's clinical infrastructure, including haematology expertise, apheresis capability and GMP-compliant cell therapy facilities, makes it one of a very small number of sites outside London capable of delivering the full CAR T treatment pathway.

For the sector., HCA UK's Manchester expansion is a benchmark for Irish private oncology. No private provider in Ireland currently offers CAR T-cell therapy; the Mater Private and Beacon are the most likely candidates to develop this capability, and the Christie Private Care model, integrating with specialist NHS infrastructure rather than building standalone capacity, is directly applicable to the Irish context of co-located public and private oncology.

Source: laingbuissonnews.com / bloodcancer.org.uk / hcahealthcare.co.uk / nice.org.uk