8 March 2010
A new state-of-the-art dialysis centre has opened in Purley, meaning that local kidney (renal) patients can get the treatment they need even closer to their homes.
The new Purley satellite centre in Capella Court, Brighton Road allows local kidney patients to use the centre for regular sessions of haemodialysis, rather than having to travel to St Helier Hospital. The centre is managed in partnership with Fresenius Medical Care Renal Services.
Sue Woodcock is the lead nurse for renal services at the Trust. She said: "Renal patients need three lengthy sessions of dialysis each week, and, as you can imagine, it's very time consuming. On top of that, patients from Purley have to spend quite a lot of time travelling to and from St Helier Hospital, and it really does add up.
"We hope that this new centre will help to lessen the burden on our renal patients as they'll be even closer to their treatment centres."
The new centre, which has 24 individual dialysis stations, operates in addition to the renal department at St Helier Hospital and six existing satellite units (at Kingston, Croydon, Crawley, Farnham, Sutton and West Byfleet). Patients who use the satellite centres remain under the care of their NHS clinicians, while benefiting from Fresenius Medical Care's proven experience and expertise in the providing of haemodialysis.
And patients are already settling in to their new unit. Sue added: "The design of the new centre is absolutely fabulous, and we've already had a lot of positive feedback from our patients.
"The whole layout is circular, and in the middle of it all is a glass atrium which allows the daylight to just stream in. It looks really spacious and both patients and staff have got a clear view of everything that's going on - it's fantastic.
"And it really is top of the range. Each dialysis station comes with a fully adjustable electronic chair, a flat screen TV and a Freeview box, so patients can watch their favourite programmes - or listen to digital radio - in comfort."
The centre also includes eight single rooms, all of which come with their own en-suite facilities. These rooms can be used for patients who need a private room for medical reasons.
