Doctors take to the road to spread dialysis message

[okarol]

Doctors take to the road to spread dialysis message

Dec 8 2008 by Madeleine Brindley, Western Mail

THREE times a week Joan Barnett wakes and gets up before the sun has risen – at 4.30am.

At 6am she is picked up from her home in Monmouth by an ambulance driver and the 76-year-old makes the first half of a 70-mile round trip to the Cardiff Royal Infirmary.

After spending hours undergoing life-saving haemodialysis at the hospital’s West Wing, Miss Barnett will make the long journey back, arriving home at about 2pm.

It is a journey she has been making three times a week for the last two years after her kidneys failed.

Miss Barnett’s kidney failure was caused by treatment for high blood pressure. Haemodialysis is her only option as she is too old for a kidney transplant.

“The unit at West Wing is marvellous – the staff are very good and my drivers are very good, but some days I can be very late home and I’m shattered.

“Sometimes the ambulance has a lot of other patients to drop off so that can make me even later. It can be very tiring, but I don’t have much choice. I think I’m too old for a transplant so dialysis is the only option. It is something that I have learned to adjust to.”

“There is a dialysis unit at St Woolos Hospital [in Newport] but it’s getting into these places that is the problem – really and truly they could do with a unit at Nevill Hall Hospital [in Abergavenny].”

There are at least 11 dialysis units across Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government is investing more money into dialysis – the draft budget set aside for renal dialysis expansion is £2.5m this year, increasing to £6.8m recurrently from 2009-10.

Kidney dialysis provision across Wales will increase by 50% by 2012 as permanent units are opened in Pembrokeshire and new units in north Gwent, Powys, Meirionnydd south Gwynedd, Deeside and Baglan.

Health Minister Edwina Hart last month opened a new unit at the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff, which replaces the 16 outdated dialysis stations patients used. The new unit will initially have 18 dialysis machines, rising to 20 this month and to 24 by March next year, with more room to expand. The Cardiff unit comes six months after a new dialysis unit was opened at West Wales General Hospital, in Carmarthen and new temporary facilities are expected to open shortly at Withybush Hospital, Haverfordwest.

Three experts from the Institute of Nephrology, in Cardiff, will be cycling 250 miles around Wales, visiting 11 dialysis units in March to highlight the long distances between units, and to raise awareness about kidney disease and the shortage of organ donors.

Professor Aled Phillips, a professor of nephrology, who will make the journey with his consultant colleagues Dr Kieron Donovan and Dr Steve Riley, said: “We plan to cycle around the dialysis units to raise awareness of the Donate Wales – Tell a Loved One campaign, the increasing numbers of patients requiring dialysis and the shortage of transplants for patients.

“A lot of renal failure that wasn’t previously identified is now being detected because of changes to the GP contract.

“We will be cycling big distances between the dialysis units, which will raise awareness of the big gaps between units. The distances are great and it recognises the fact that for some patients dialysis is not just about four to six hours three times a week, as patients can spend hours travelling to the units.

“Many patients have an hour’s journey and, if they are travelling by ambulance, they may have to make many stops to pick up other patients.

“For these patients dialysis is not just four hours, three times a week but three days a week.”

The cycle ride aims to raise up to £100,000 for the Kidney Wales Foundation – the charity contributes funds to the institute’s work. The six-day round-Wales marathon will start on March 6 from the University Hospital of Wales and end in Cardiff on World Kidney Day.

To support the six-day Institute of Nephrology charity cycle ride around Wales, contact the Kidney Wales Foundation on 029 2034 3940 or visit www.kidneywales.com

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/12/08/doctors-take-to-the-road-to-spread-dialysis-message-91466-22424747/