Plans for dialysis unit in vacant factory

Richard Youle, local democracy reporter

A vacant factory could be turned into the latest of a serious of community dialysis units for patients with kidney disease in south Wales.

The conversion of the building – Stationery House – on Acacia Avenue in Port Talbot, would be funded by NHS Wales and operated on behalf of Swansea Bay University Health Board by a private company called Fresenius Medical Care UK.

It would replicate a similar arrangement for a new dialysis unit in Bridgend, which Fresenius Medical Care said was due to open this year, with the aim of relieving pressure on renal services in Morriston Hospital, Swansea, and providing patients with somewhere closer to home for treatment.

Health boards

Renal services are provided by the health board for patients in its own area of Swansea and Neath Port Talbot as well as those in neighbouring Hywel Dda and Cwm Taf Morgannwg health boards. Existing services include two dialysis units at Morriston Hospital and three others – run by Fresenius Medical Care – in Carmarthen, Haverfordwest and Aberystwyth.

These five units have been upgraded as a part of a £70 million, 10-year investment by NHS Wales, with the funding also covering the cost of the new ones in Bridgend and Port Talbot.

A health board spokesman said: “Once complete, the new Port Talbot unit will offer state-of-the-art facilities for patients under the care of the NHS clinical team which looks after all dialysis patients in south-west Wales. The facilities and nursing staff will be provided by Fresenius Medical Care, which has an excellent international reputation for providing dialysis alongside the NHS.”

Health board chief operating officer Deb Lewis has written in support of the planned Port Talbot unit, which is out for public consultation until September 9, saying the service in Morriston was operating at 140% capacity and that a growing number of patients required dialysis. “Therefore creating a new dialysis unit in this area is vital,” she said.

Haemodialysis

The most prevalent type of dialysis – haemodialysis – involves patients’ blood being filtered three times a week in a machine and returned into the body. Each treatment takes around four hours.

A planning statement submitted as part of Fresenius Medical Care’s change of use application said the Port Talbot unit would operate Monday to Saturday and could treat up to 27 patients at the same time, providing up to 16,848 treatments per year. Part of the factory building – formerly occupied by Blackwood Wire Products – would be demolished, 32 parking spaces provided, and some new greenery planted. The planning statement said the converted factory, which is opposite a row of houses, would be a “marked improvement” but that there would be more movements in and out than used to be the case.

A letter in support has come from a dialysis healthcare support worker at Morriston Hospital who has undergone another type of dialysis – peritoneal dialysis – following a diagnosis in 2005. His mother donated one of her kidneys to him but it lasted for only four years, meaning further dialysis was needed prior to another transplant several years later.

His letter said: “I feel this new unit will bring a lot of hope to patients within the local area, as well as creating new jobs. It will also benefit patients’ mobility, health and fitness and mental health if they are able to exercise by walking into dialysis treatment.”

Mwoyo Makuto, Neath Port Talbot and Swansea director of Llais – a patient watchdog – said Llais was aware of the need to expand capacity in dialysis services across the region. “Bringing care closer to home, subject to full and proper engagement with those affected, can benefit our communities,” she said. “We welcome the ongoing progress to develop the services available to those receiving dialysis.”