Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (BTHFT) has opened a Shared Haemodialysis Care Unit to help encourage patients to have greater involvement in their dialysis care.
The Shared Haemodialysis Care Unit (SHCU) was officially opened yesterday (18 August). The creation of this new facility has been achieved with excellent support from Sovereign Health Care and the Friends of St Luke’s Hospital volunteer group, who between them have donated more than £250,000 to the cause.
Dr John Stoves, Consultant in Nephrology and Renal Clinical Lead at BTHFT, said:
We embarked on this project with our patients a few years ago. The SHCU will help patients who wish to participate actively in their dialysis care, from helping with setting up their dialysis equipment through to connecting themselves to their dialysis machine. Some of our patients may also subsequently decide that they prefer to manage their dialysis treatment in the home setting.
The new SHCU facility has been created as part of a programme to expand and reconfigure renal services at St Luke’s Hospital, including the establishment of a Renal Ambulatory Care Unit and significant improvements to the main Haemodialysis Unit to create additional side room capacity, a larger patient waiting area, a simulation training room and new staff changing facilities.
Dr Stoves explained:
The renal service needs to be able to offer hospital-based care, home-based care and a halfway house option for patients who are unable to dialyse at home but prefer greater independence and flexibility. Patients are likely to require dialysis for several years of their life, so it is important that they can choose from a full range of treatment options.
Shared Care provides a stepping stone to home-based care and allows patients to take control of their treatment and become more self-sufficient.
Studies have shown that patients benefit if they are actively connected and working with their renal team to manage their care, and this has been encouraged as part of the Think Kidneys Transforming Participation in CKD programme and NHS England’s House of Care model.
None of this would have been possible without the generosity of Sovereign Health Care and the Friends of St Luke’s, added Dr Stoves. We first made representations to our key partners back in 2016, and since that time they have not only kept faith in the project but also increased their commitment to support the purchase of life-saving dialysis machines and other equipment within the SCHU. It has been a tremendous collaborative effort and I am very proud of what has been achieved.
With the excellent stewardship of the Trust’s Estates team and a committed construction team, we have been able to maintain our essential haemodialysis service at St Luke’s during the 12 months building period, including throughout the COVID pandemic.
Many people have been involved in the project along the way, including Senior Sister Vandnah Chummun, the former St Luke’s Haemodialysis Unit Sister, who said she was delighted to see the unit open and making such a difference to patients’ care.
Russ Piper, Chief Executive of Sovereign Health Care, said:
Over the last 12 months, the spotlight has truly been shone on the amazing service provided by the NHS and we are proud to be able to announce this donation as part of our ongoing support of health services in our region. While the pandemic has of course been the focus, it is critical that other essential services can continue and so we are delighted to be able to contribute to the care of kidney dialysis patients.
The Friends of St Luke’s (FSL) run two refreshments cafés at the hospital, and have raised the funds they have kindly donated from sales of tea, toast and other beverages and snacks. The FSL are led by chairperson, Barbara Cawood, who added:
We’re absolutely thrilled that the money we’ve raised has helped to develop this fantastic facility for patients.
Fiona Loud, Policy Director of Kidney Care UK and Linda Pickering, KCUK’s Renal Patient Support and Advocacy Officer in Yorkshire, added:
Kidney Care UK is a strong supporter of the shared care dialysis programme, and we would like to congratulate the Bradford Hospitals team for turning this patient-centred project into a reality. Learning that your kidneys have failed can be a real shock, but the shared care approach helps because it allows patients to start to regain some control over their care and to build confidence and understanding of their dialysis treatment.
A plaque marking the opening of the new unit and paying tribute to the contribution of Sovereign Health Care and the Friends of St Luke’s was unveiled at the official opening.
The Renal Unit at BTHFT cares for 350 dialysis patients. A total of 45 Bradford patients are currently dialysing at home, with a further 50 patients keen to participate in haemodialysis self-care.
Shared Care: Take your life back: patient Oliver Anderson’s story
As a dialysis patient of 15 years (how did that happen?!), I can say with confidence that one of the best decisions I’ve made in that time was to get on a “Shared Care Pathway”.
Exactly what “Shared Care” means is different for different patients depending on their own needs and levels of confidence. For me, it means doing my own blood pressure, putting my own needles in, and programming the dialysis machine once I’ve determined how much fluid I need to take, etc.
Ultimately, “Shared Care” is contextual and you can do as much or as little as you want: other patients on the Shared Care Pathway come in early and line their own machines, some just set up their trolleys with the necessary equipment.
In short, it’s up to you to do whatever makes you feel that your care is under the levels of control that you’re happy with.
The main benefits of shared care have been both physical and psychological.
Physically, I feel less pain when my needles go in as I’m more sensitive to my own arm and can adjust what I’m doing based on what I’m feeling.
Psychologically, I feel a lot more ‘normal’ because of the control I have over my care and, by extension, my life.
When you first start dialysis, you find yourself playing quite a passive role as you are bombarded with information and have various things ‘done’ to you (lines inserted, needles stuck in, etc.). In my own case, this made me feel a bit like a piece of furniture that was being shuffled about – taking steps to be more active made me feel a bit more ‘human’ again and improved my experience overall.
I’d definitely recommend doing at least something towards supporting your own care (both in and out of the unit – exercise, for example, has also helped me massively).
You don’t have to give yourself a kidney transplant or even put your own needles in, but by taking steps to do something for yourself, you’ll feel a lot better.
