UK: Hospital gives children portable dialysis machinesGreat Ormond Street Hospital in London has become Europe’s first children’s hospital to offer portable haemodialysis systems.
Uxbridge-based company Kimal plc has supplied the hospital with NxStage System One Home Haemodialysis machines, which allow patients to undergo haemodialysis in any place at any time.
The hospital’s young kidney failure patients can now be treated at home or even on holiday, whereas the normal regime requires them to attend the hospital for dialysis three times a week for four hours each time.
Ken Findlay, Kimal’s Corporate Marketing Manager, said: “Historically, home haemodialysis units typically were large and required many consumables. The NxStage System One has not only minimised the dialysis machine to the size of a portable TV but, with less consumables required, it has also reduced the storage requirement, making the whole process truly user-friendly.”
The NxStage System One reduces disruption to the patient’s normal life, frees up hospital beds and medical staff, and enables the patient to dialyse at convenient times in the family environment. Its clinical benefits include an increase in the frequency of treatment (every day for shorter periods) with less strict dietary and fluid restrictions, and the option of overnight treatment.
Dr Dal Hothi, consultant paediatric nephrologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital, commented: “This is a potentially life-changing service for renal patients and we are delighted to be able to offer it to our families. By offering this home-based service we are giving control back to families by giving them a choice and, for the first time, the option to travel abroad.”
A DVD of a Great Ormond Street Hospital patient using NxStage System One is being produced by Ken Findlay and will be available in December.
http://www.healthcarejobs.co.uk/blog/index.php/2010/11/hospital-gives-children-portable-dialysis-machines/
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