Night time dialysis to end

Overnight dialysis for patients with kidney failure is set to become a thing of the past as part of a €14.5m investment in renal care facilities at two Dublin hospitals.

Mark Murphy, chief executive of the Irish Kidney Association, said it should mean patients could undergo dialysis at “more humane hours” at Beaumont Hospital and put an end to the 4am shift.

“It also makes it cheaper because rather than using night-shift nurses, patients can be treated during the day. It’s a win-win situation. It’s more convenient for patients and less expensive for the hospital.”

Beaumont was “long overdue” a refurbishment, said Mr Murphy, adding that most other units around the country had been upgraded.

“It’s the last place where patients underwent dialysis throughout the night. It will now have the capacity to have everything done in daylight.”

A €6m, 34-station outpatient renal dialysis unit will increase capacity for provision of renal dialysis to outpatients at Beaumont by 55%. The remainder of the €14.5m investment will go towards expanding the hospital’s living donor transplant programme and the development of existing facilities to accommodate the expansion.

Peter Conlon, consultant nephrologist at Beaumont said increasing transplants to 250 per year “is a major step forward in transforming the treatment of kidney failure in Ireland”. Last year, Beaumont carried out 163 kidney transplants.

“Kidney transplantation provides the best quality of life for patients with kidney failure, more than doubles their life expectancy compared to remaining on dialysis and in the process, each kidney transplant saves the state in excess of €750,000 over the life time of the transplant.”

There are about 500 people on a waiting list for a kidney transplant, with an average wait time of 33 months for deceased donors.

Beaumont has also launched a website — beaumontkidneycenter.ie — where potential living kidney donors and recipients can start the process of living donor evaluation.

The investment incorporates further development of urology services at Connolly Hospital.

*Irish Kidney Association donor cards can be obtained by contacting 1890 543639, texting “donor” to 50050 or downloading the donor e-card app