$9m renal unit for North Shore Hospital

Hundreds of patients from north and west Auckland with damaged kidneys will be given vital treatment and support closer to home under plans for a new health facility.

Construction will start next year of a $9.2 million renal unit adjoining North Shore Hospital in Milford. It will take its first patients in July 2011.

The Waitemata District Health Board facility will provide treatment on haemodialysis (blood purifying) machines for up to 48 patients a day, and accommodate a peritoneal dialysis unit.

"Waitemata has the largest population of any DHB in the country - over half a million," Dr Walter Van Der Merwe, clinical leader of the new renal service, said yesterday.

"We really do need a locally based renal service. All the services have been based out of Auckland Hospital until now. It's well overdue that one is provided within the Waitemata DHB. It's about providing a better and more timely service and also provision of dialysis closer to the patients' homes."

The Waitemata renal service will diagnose and manage all forms of kidney disease, care for patients before and after kidney transplants - which will continue to be done for Waitemata patients at Auckland City Hospital - and provide on-site support for other hospital services.

It will also mean that dialysis patients needing elective surgery such as joint replacements can be treated at North Shore. At present, dialysis is not available there to support this.

The Auckland DHB is the current provider of most renal services for Waitemata patients, from its sites in Auckland City. The only kidney facility within Waitemata's boundaries is the satellite unit at Waitakere Hospital, which is run by the Auckland DHB, although this will transfer to Waitemata's control in June.

A second Waitemata satellite unit, on the North Shore, is planned as a later, second phase of the new renal service. The third phase will add home haemodialysis training for patients, and vascular surgery.

Around 220 Waitemata patients are on dialysis treatment, the majority on haemodialysis and the remainder on peritoneal dialysis. Several hundred more have various forms of kidney disease but do not yet need dialysis.

Nationally there were 2064 patients on dialysis in 2007, an increase of 20 per cent since 2003.

Demand for dialysis to treat end-stage renal failure is growing by 5 to 7 per cent a year.

Factors behind the increase include the shortage of organ donors and the rise in the number of people with diabetes, which is the most common cause of end-stage kidney disease.

About 195,000 New Zealanders have been diagnosed with diabetes and the number of cases is expected to double in the next 20 years.

TYPES OF TREATMENT

Dialysis: Removes waste products and fluid normally extracted by the kidneys.

Haemodialysis: Machine connected to blood vessels. Patient's blood passes through an artificial kidney. Done three times a week, usually at health clinic. Some patients have machine at home.

Peritoneal dialysis: A special liquid is drained through a port into the patient's abdomen. It draws out fluid and waste products from blood vessels before being drained back into a bag and discarded. Can be done at home. Can be manual or by machine.