Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Rickmansworth Road, Northwood HA6 2RN
Public consultation on the proposals to relocate specialist services at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre (19 January – 29 March 2026). Please scroll to the bottom of this page for further information.
Mount Vernon Cancer Centre is a well renowned, specialised cancer centre based in Northwood, Middlesex.
As a centre of excellence we pride ourselves on both our technical treatments and our patient care. Our staff is highly trained in non-surgical oncology.
The consultant team are highly respected and each specialises in one or two particular cancers. There is also a team of doctors who support the consultants’ clinical work both in the outpatient clinics and on the wards. Nurses deliver chemotherapy treatments and radiographers deliver radiotherapy treatments all supported by teams of physicists, administration staff and engineers.
There are over 500 members of staff and we are united in our goal to provide high quality and timely treatment to our patients.
We treat from a large catchment population of almost 2 million people and some patients are referred to us from across the country into areas where we have specialist knowledge and expertise. Over 5,000 new patients are registered with us each year.
Mount Vernon Cancer Centre prides itself on being at the forefront of the latest technology available for treatment and many patients being offered clinical trials for both chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments. The centre has the latest pumps for the delivery of chemotherapy and in radiotherapy the most up to date linear accelerators can deliver the latest treatment techniques.
We have produced a series of information films to help support and reassure patients before they start cancer treatment. The films include information about what to expect during an appointment, the different devices that might be used as well as guidance on travel and parking at the centre. The films are available to watch on our YouTube channel.
Our facilities include:
- A chemotherapy/immunotherapy suite, which treats around 300 patients a week using 21, providing systemic anti-cancer therapy using established and cutting edge drug treatments for all cancer types
- Inpatient ward, which has 26 beds
- A comprehensive radiotherapy service from the point of clinical referral to the first follow-up appointment
- Seven linear accelerators providing radiotherapy treatments, including CyberKnife and TrueBeam
- Nuclear Medicine Imaging and Outpatient Therapy service
- Iodine suite treating 120 patients per year
Our team of volunteers is available to help patients way find their way around our rather complex site. If you need help, just look out for the people wearing a yellow sash or a yellow lanyard and a yellow badge.
Also part of the cancer centre are three facilities that support our patients:
The Paul Strickland Scanner Centre
Provides comprehensive scanning services to the NHS and private health sectors for the diagnosis, treatment monitoring and research of cancer and other serious diseases, using leading edge PET/CT, MRI and CT scanners.
The Lynda Jackson Centre
Situated next to the Cancer Treatment Suite (near the Gate 3 entrance), the Lynda Jackson Centre offers support and information services for patients, relatives and carers before, during and after cancer treatment. The Centre is open Monday to Friday (9.30am – 4.30pm) and offers a drop-in service so patients and their families can ask for help, support, information and advice.
The Centre also offers a programme of health and wellbeing services which includes counselling, group relaxation classes, workshops to support patients having treatment which may cause hair loss, ear acupuncture and mindfulness. Some of these services are run in person and some online or by telephone.
To make a booking or find out more please call 020 3826 2555 (Monday to Friday, 9:30am – 4:30pm) or email enh-tr@[email protected] or go to the Lynda Jackson Centre website.
The Lynda Jackson Centre website is temporarily unavailable at the moment due to essential maintenance. Please call the team (details above) for help and support.
Coronavirus guidance
For the latest Covid-19 information for patients and visitors, please click here.
Building works
Mount Vernon Cancer Centre has been awarded £7.5 million to make building improvements. The works are ongoing and scheduled for completion in early 2026.
You can find out more about how we’re improving the cancer centre by visiting the ‘Building works at the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre’ section of our website.
Mount Vernon Cancer public consultation
19 January – 29 March 2026
A public consultation on proposals to move Mount Vernon Cancer Centre to Watford General Hospital has started and will close on 29 March 2026.
Patients, staff and the public will be invited to share their views on the proposals and once the consultation starts there will be online and in person public meetings, a questionnaire to complete and other community activities. Please click here for detailed information on the review website.
The proposals include moving Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, the Paul Strickland Scanner Centre and the Lynda Jackson Centre to a new purpose-built building on the Watford General Hospital site.
Please click here to read the consultation document with detailed information about the proposals
Please click here to read the consultation summary document
Please click here to respond to the online questionnaire
The proposals also include setting up an additional local radiotherapy unit at either Luton and Dunstable Hospital or Lister Hospital in Stevenage, having a new chemotherapy service at Hillingdon Hospital, more chemotherapy facilities at Northwick Park Hospital and moving blood cancer services (haematology) currently provided in London hospitals to the new cancer centre.
Background to the public consultation
Please click here to read the announcement about the consultation.
In May 2019 NHS England launched a strategic review about the future sustainability of services. An Independent Clinical Review found that there needed to be immediate and longer-term changes including relocating specialist cancer services to a new centre on an acute hospital site and recommendations to maintain the current service, including a building improvement programme.
A series of options for Mount Vernon Cancer Centre were developed. You can find detailed information about this on the Mount Vernon Cancer Services Review website.
Following the government spending review in July 2025 and as part of the approval process to go to public consultation, the review team was asked to explore opportunities for further integration with the Watford General Hospital scheme and some alternative sources of capital. More information about the proposal to build the new Mount Vernon Cancer Centre as part of the new Watford General Hospital is published on the review website.
We understand that news of changes can be worrying for patients and would like to offer reassurance that during the review and public consultation there will be no immediate or short-term changes to where patients go for their treatment.
