I recently visited Darent Valley Hospital and officially opened the expanded bedside haemodialysis service in the Renal Department.
The need for this expansion became apparent in 2021, when the Trust reported a total of 1092 haemodialysis sessions had been completed. This meant that full capacity had been reached within the two hospital rooms allocated and designed for this treatment.
The two dedicated rooms can cater for four full four-hour dialysis treatments, with 40-minute machine decontamination cycles in between each patient. A standard haemodialysis treatment lasts four hours, three times per week and capacity became more challenging for staff to meet the growing demands of the service.
Led by Senior Sister Tracy Glew, a new plan was approved to increase the haemodialysis capacity by enabling the treatment to occur at the patient’s bedside rather than in a designated ward. This required extensive plumbing work and specialist water purification equipment to perform the treatment.
It was a great to see this new system in place which ensures more people needing dialysis can get it here in Dartford.