TAMWORTH hospital opened its new “future-proofed” renal dialysis unit yesterday, which will cater for more of the region’s acute kidney patients.
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The new unit, on the first floor of the Bruderlin building, has 11 dialysis chairs and the capacity to expand to 17 without additional construction work.
The unit also includes three specialised clinical rooms for home treatment patient training.
Renal unit medical director Dr Stephen May has seen significant growth in the facilities in his time at the hospital.
“I’ve been here for 26 years, and when we started we had six chairs in a little building with no windows,” Dr May said.
“(This) is really a Taj Mahal in some ways.”
The nephrologist was particularly taken by views over Tamworth afforded by the new unit.
Three years ago, high demand for renal services was pushing some Tamworth patients to Armidale for treatment, a scenario Dr May didn’t want to return to.
“Hopefully, that will never happen, sometimes you just get overwhelmed and occasionally that can happen,” Dr May said.
“Certainly we have the capacity here to expand; whereas, previously we didn’t have any capacity.”
General manager Catharine Death said the five-year project would offer expanded capacity and bring the hospital’s renal services to one location.
“I think it’s very important the whole team is together,” Ms Death said.
“It brings together all of our renal services, so both dialysis services and very importantly the home training hub.”
The home training hub consists of three specialised rooms for peritoneal and haemodialysis training for patients, with the aim of getting more afflicted people treated at home.
Ms Death said the Tamworth unit was the location for acute services in the Peel, Mehi and Tablelands sectors, with patients streaming down from the border, in some cases.
The unit can increase capacity up to 17 dialysis chairs and Ms Death said expansion would be necessary in coming years.
“In the next few years, we will need to look at expansion,” she said.
“We don’t need 17 stations, but, certainly in the future with chronic disease growth in the community, we will need that.”
Across two shifts a day, the unit treats up to 44 patients a week.
Tamworth woman Joanne Booby receives treatment three times a week in five-hour sessions.
Mrs Booby has been getting dialysis for five years in Tamworth and said she enjoyed a lot more space in the new unit.
“As an inpatient, you no longer have to walk outside to get between services,” she said.
A kidney transplant is the end goal for Mrs Booby.
