I met yesterday with Felicity Cox and Nicky Bentley from NHS England to get an update on what progress is being made towards getting some sort of dialysis unit for Sittingbourne and Sheppey. There is progress but it is painfully slow. I was joined at the meeting by Islander Kevin Edwards who has been campaigning relentlessly for a unit and needs regular dialysis himself. Understandably Kevin is frustrated at the lack of progress, but sadly the bureaucracy within the NHS does not lend ityself to speed! Our long term objective is to get a satellite dialysis unit at either Sittingbourne Memorial or Sheppey Community hospitals, but we have had to accept that is not going to happen in the near future and we are currently looking at alternative provision. After many months investigation work Nicky has discovered that a different type of dialysis unit was opened a couple of months ago in Selby, Yorkshire. That unit allows people who are suitable for home dialysis, but for various reasons do not have the room for the equipment, to visit their local community hospital and connect to their home dialysis machine there, being supervised by the carer who would have helped at home. I have asked the NHS to investigate the possibility of a similar unit on Sheppey, but with supervision provided for those pople who do not have a carer. They have committed to that investigation and to getting bak to me with a time frame for delivering such a sevice soon. I am more optimistic of some sort of dialysis facility in our area today than I was a six months ago. It is worth pointing out that if we get the unit I have described there will still be renal patients for whom it will not be suitable and will still have to travel, but it wil be a start. We will still be pressing for a full functioning dialysis unit at some future date.
Posted on: Sat, 12 Apr 2014 07:20:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015