The first of a number of new improved local centres for dialysis patients across South Wales has been launched.
Cabinet Secretary Vaughan Gething has officially opened the new facility on Penarth Road in Cardiff. It will be followed by new centres in Newport and Pontypool in the next few months.
The new centres will mean improved facilities for patients, providing improved care closer to home and a better nurse to patient ratio. The new Cardiff South Dialysis Unit replaces the unit previously based at West Wing in Cardiff Royal Infirmary.
Around 300 people are currently using the service provided by Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.
Catherine Wood, Directorate Manager for Nephrology and Transplant at the Health Board, said the service had previously been provided in areas that were not ideal for patients.
She said: “These new facilities have been designed with patients and our other partners and are a big improvement on what we’ve been able to provide in the past.
“As well as improving the environment for patients this work also means we can provide care to them closer to home.
“This new centre will be much easier for patients in the west of Cardiff and the Vale who had to travel across the city to Cardiff Royal Infirmary in the past, which could be problematic especially when there were major events happening in the city.
“This approach is also in line with Shaping Our Future Wellbeing, our 10 year strategy, which aims provide care closer to home wherever possible.”
Dr Kieron Donovan, Consultant Nephrologist at Cardiff and Vale, said the new centre was a boost for patients and staff.
He said: “The new unit offers more patients better access to modern facilities.
The standout feature is the space and the accommodation. We have more nurses per patient. The transformation is amazing.”
The centre is run and staffed by company BBraun on behalf of the health board.
Catherine said: “We very excited to be working in close collaboration with BBraun Avitum who to date have successfully recruited significant number of new nursing staff to join the team and provided refreshments for patients at all of their units which is something that is something that patients have told us is something that is very important to them.”
A new centre in Newport is expected to open in January with another in Pontypool due in March 2017. It will mean that all patients will be treated in purpose built centres.
Health Secretary Vaughan Gething said: “We have improved and increased the number of local dialysis centres so that more people in Wales can get access to high quality specialist care close to where they live.
“I understand that in this fantastic new centre the nurse staffing ratio will be one of, if not the best in the UK; I hope it will help a great many more people manage their condition well and fit the care they need into their lives in a way that works for them.
“I want to thank the staff and patients for their hard work and collaboration to create a centre that is great to receive care in and great to work in.”
In addition to the close partnership working with patients and BBraun Avitum we have had significant support through the complicated contractual process of getting the unit up and running from the Welsh Renal Clinical Network, and our contractors Lacunar Healthcare Projects and Huw Thomas who did a sterling job at getting the unit open on time so that our patients are able to benefit from this fantastic new environment as soon as was possible.
