New satellite Dialysis Unit opens at the West Suffolk Hospital

Time:               10am

Date:               Wednesday 17^th September, 2003

Venue:            West Suffolk Hospital, Bury St Edmunds.

A new Dialysis Unit is opening at the West Suffolk Hospital and the media are invited to look round the unit and talk to patients benefiting from the excellent new facilities.

The Unit, which has 12 haemodialysis stations, will treat patients who live in the Bury St Edmunds and surrounding area who are currently travelling to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge for dialysis.

This much-needed local unit, which has been built at the back of the West Suffolk Hospital, is a result of partnership working. The West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust is leasing the new accommodation to Addenbrooke's NHS Trust, who will be employing the nursing staff and managing patient care.  Fresenius Medical Care (UK) Ltd is providing the dialysis service. Agreements are being negotiated for the West Suffolk Hospital to provide some support services, such as pathology, radiology, pharmacy, and catering.

The satellite unit cost £449,000 to build and it will welcome its first patients on 8 September.  Twenty four patients will be transferred from Addenbrooke's Hospital to the unit. This will be extremely beneficial to those patients who spend hours travelling many miles for treatment, some of whom have been travelling to and from Cambridge two or three times a week.

Transferring patients to the satellite unit in the West Suffolk Hospital will relieve some of the capacity problems at Addenbrooke's and will enable the unit to accommodate new patients.

The senior nursing staff appointed to be in charge of the West Suffolk Unit currently work at Addenbrooke's. The patients are delighted that their nurses will be transferring with them and that continuity of care will be assured.

Initially the Unit will be open three days a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7am until 7pm with plans to open the unit six days per week, Monday to Saturday from 1 April 2004.

Dr Nick Pritchard will be managing clinical care of haemodialysis patients at both the West Suffolk and Addenbrooke's Hospitals.

 “This is great news for people in the west of Suffolk who need dialysis, as it means they no longer have to continually travel to Cambridge,” said John Parkes, chief executive of West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust.  “Although provided from the West Suffolk Hospital site in Bury St Edmunds, the service is managed by staff from Addenbrooke’s who have experience and knowledge of kidney dialysis. The new Renal Dialysis Unit is another step forward in our goal of providing a world-class health service to the local community.