New Community Renal Services for Waitemata DHB

MEDIA RELEASE
15 October 2012

New Community Renal Services for Waitemata DHB

Health services for people with kidney-related conditions are to greatly expand in the Waitemata district.

The $3.6 million investment in additional renal services by the Waitemata District Health Board will see the development of a new 18-station community dialysis facility on the North Shore, as well as capacity increases to existing facilities.

Chief executive Dr Dale Bramley says the move is part of a long term strategy to bring renal services back to Waitemata, enabling the DHB to provide closer to home care for its renal patients.

“We marked the first phase of the renal programme last year with the opening of the $9.2 million North Shore Dialysis Centre. Located next to North Shore Hospital, the facility was aimed at providing in-centre renal dialysis for people with kidney failure,” says Dr Bramley.

“The second phase will see an emphasis on community solutions with facilities that will allow patients to manage, or partially manage, their own dialysis without having to visit a major hospital site.”

At the heart of the next phase is the new 18-station community dialysis facility to be located on the North Shore. To be developed by an external party with Waitemata DHB as tenants, it will complement the DHB’s existing west Auckland facilities, which are comprised of a community dialysis unit and clinics at Waitakere Hospital.

The new facility will allow for up to 72 dialysis patients per day, with capacity for an additional 36 working self-care patients to dialyse in the evenings. It will also feature a three training room peritoneal dialysis unit and an eight station home haemodialysis unit catering for the training and ongoing care of home haemodialysis patients.

Along with the community facility, phase two will also see:

• The addition of six more haemodialysis stations to the North Shore Dialysis Centre’s existing 24
• The addition of three plumbed dialysis spaces to the North Shore Hospital inpatient service’s existing two spaces

The renal service’s clinical leader, Dr Walter van der Merwe, says the new facility will mean that patients in the North Shore and Rodney will not have to travel as far, nor wait as long, for treatment.

“It also means that patients who are unable to dialyse at home will have a greater choice of treatment options,” says Dr van der Merwe, “We will also be able to support greater independence for current and future patients with chronic kidney disease.”

Once the second phase is completed in July next year, the DHB will have sufficient dialysis capacity to accommodate projected demand up to 2020.

The planned third and final phase of the programme will see the establishment of vascular surgery and nephrology services in the district.

ENDS

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