Highgate East hospital comes complete with table tennis and a lounge

NHS chiefs are celebrating getting the keys to a new mental health hospital.

The Highgate East 78-room in-patient facility next to the Whittington Hospital in Archway is replacing facilities used for Islington patients at St Pancras Hospital.

There is outdoor space from each ward, therapy spaces and a sports hall, according to the North London Mental Health Partnership.

Moorfields is moving its eye hospital services out of the Angel and into new buildings on the St Pancras site as part of a huge transformation of NHS estate.

Unlike the most recent new-build extensions to hospitals serving Islington patients, including the Whittington, this time the NHS has not had to rely on the Private Finance Initiative-style schemes – and will not be saddled with decades of debt.

Chief executive Jinjer Kandola said the old St Pancras Hospital buildings were “never designed to provide modern-day mental health care”, adding: “Highgate East’s cutting-edge design has been co-produced with our service users, carers, staff, and the wider community.

“Our new building will also be a valuable community asset with a café open to the public helping to destigmatise mental health.”

The Tribune reported last year how delays to the opening of the new building meant highly vulnerable NHS patients had to be transferred from St Pancras to a privately run centre in Harrow.

They spent one year in the facility which was criticised by care inspectors in a damning report last summer.

Gavin Pantlin, BAM Construction director, said: “Everyone involved can be hugely proud of what they have achieved during the design and construction phase, and we look forward to the facility leaving a legacy for the NHS, the users of the building and the wider local community.”