KIDNEY patients are to benefit from a special unit that opens on Monday.

Dialysis patients will be receiving their treatment in a brand new £1.5m unit at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

Work has been completed to convert the former doctors’ quarters into a modern, purpose-designed facility with up to 14 treatment areas and with dedicated parking spaces for renal patients.

The main clinical area has been converted into a bright, open environment and new curtains and televisions are being funded by the British Kidney Patient Association.

The facility has been funded, and will be run, by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which provides specialist renal services to patients across West Yorkshire.

The unit will replace the facility formerly located at St Luke’s Hospital, Crosland Moor, and will eventually treat up to 56 patients who need haemodialysis – a process to cleanse the blood – twice or three times a week, for up to four hours each time.

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.

Bev Craggs, matron for renal services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, said: “We are very proud of this new purpose-designed unit for our patients in the Huddersfield area. For treatments such as this it is very important to be able to offer modern surroundings for our patients who spend several hours a week in our care.”