DIALYSIS patients in Huddersfield will be receiving their treatment in a new building from Monday.
Work has finished on the £1.5 million unit at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary which has seen the former doctors' lodgings, behind the main HRI sign, turned into a centre capable of treating up to 56 patients, two or three times a week.
The facility, which has parking spaces for renal patients, has been funded by and will be run by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and replaces the former St Luke’s Hospital renal unit.
A hospital spokeswoman added: "It will also mean that dialysis patients now have both their out-patient appointments, on non-treatment days, at HRI, alongside their haemodialysis treatment. The move also means that the new unit is also closer to the pathology laboratories at HRI for blood test results.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals also has a service at Calderdale Royal Hospital for patients in the Halifax area. Both are nurse-led satellite units co-ordinated from St James’s University Hospital in Leeds.
Dr Elizabeth Garthwaite, consultant nephrologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, added: “As well as providing a more modern and comfortable environment for local renal patients, the new unit will have the potential for additional capacity built in. We hope this means some Kirklees patients who currently travel to Leeds for dialysis will be able to transfer to the new unit, in due course.”
