Patient appalled at state of renal unit (From Western Telegraph)

Patient appalled at state of renal unit

TWENTY Pembrokeshire dialysis patients have to travel to Glangwili Hospital, Carmarthen, three times a week for treatment in substandard facilities.

They rise at 5am to make the 120-mile round trip to the renal unit, where they endure cramped conditions, an extreme lack of privacy and only one unisex toilet.

Haemodialysis patient Alex Cottrell said: "We have had enough."

"It is the last thing you feel like facing when you are suffering side-effects like vomiting, diarrhoea, chest infections or flu."

The nurse from Jordanston, near Neyland, is appalled by the conditions at Glangwili. Medical procedures take place in a corridor outside the toilet causing concern about infection.

Nauseous patients vomit into bowls in full view of other patients and visitors, as there are no curtains around the dialysis machines and one patient lost bladder control while waiting to use the only available toilet.

"Patients have no privacy or dignity," said Mrs Cottrell.

But she stresses that it is the environment at fault not the staff.

The prefabricated unit was designed to cater for 37 patients for ten years. Twenty years later it is treating more than 80 patients.

Letters to the National Assembly and numerous health bodies have produced sympathetic replies, but no visible action.

Mrs Cottrell said: "We have run out of places to turn to."

The Care Standards Inspectorate's report in July 2004 required rusty radiators, flaking paint, brittle water pipes, damp and floor defects to be fixed within three months.

Additional toilet and bathroom facilities were to be provided inside six months.

A spokesman for Health Commission Wales said action was delayed by negotiations with the Carmarthen NHS Trust over a combined renal and cardiac rehabilitation unit.

The trust has now agreed to make the site available for a separate dialysis service and a competitive tender has been initiated by the Commission.