New dialysis centre opens in south Wales

Lewis Smith – Local democracy reporter

A new “state-of-the-art” dialysis unit with the ability to carry out more than 13,000 rounds of treatment per year has opened in south Wales.

The new facility is based in Brackla, Bridgend at the site of a former fitness gym and was opened in February 2025.

It has now become the home of a new renal unit for patients from the area who require dialysis and who previously had to travel to Morriston Hospital in Swansea.

It has been commissioned to be run on behalf of Swansea Bay University Health Board by Fresenius Medical Care, with some patients now said to be saving an average of 86 miles of travel a week since the opening.

Demand

The new centre has 21 dialysis stations and is part of a £70 million, 10-year investment across south Wales by NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee via the Welsh Kidney Network.

It is based in the Triangle Shopping Centre in Brackla, and is near to a Co-op supermarket and a number of other local traders. It is just over a mile from Bridgend Town Centre and has access to a 56-space car park.

A spokesperson for the health board said: “Bridgend patients are now saving an average of 86 miles a week, every week. One has reduced their travelling by 170 miles a week.

Training

“It has also led to a drop in demand for ambulance transport, with patients confident to drive themselves to a unit close to home, which has its own car park. Patients’ friends and family are in a better position to drop off locally and there is even talk among some of lift-sharing.”

The opening comes after approved plans for another new unit at a former factory building in Port Talbot.

This will feature 27 stations with a maximum capacity of 108 patients as well as a training area for nurses who teach people to dialyse at home.