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Stoke Mandeville opens new Renal Unit
21 September 2009
Patients in Aylesbury now have access to kidney dialysis nearer to home at a new renal unit in Stoke Mandeville Hospital.
Welcoming the opening of the renal unit, Manager Fiona Barber said: "We are so pleased to be able to deliver a service for patients from the Aylesbury area nearer to their homes... patients from this area had to travel to Oxford for treatment. Treatment is tiring for patients as well as time-consuming. It is clearly better that they can be as near to home as possible. In my experience dialysis patients are an uncomplaining, happy bunch of people who accept their circumstances with good humour in spite of their difficulties. It is great that we are able to make their lives a bit easier."
The Oxford Kidney Unit has been providing renal replacement therapy and transplantation to patients with kidney failure for over 40 years and is a regional centre of excellence covering six counties: Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire.
The Stoke Mandeville Unit opened in May 2009 and patients reported an improvement in their overall wellbeing and quality of life as a result of being so close to home. Before the move some patients were finding that, including travel, their treatment took up to eight hours. Cutting this gives patients more time with their families at home and helps them lead a comparatively normal life.
The new unit is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.