An exciting innovation, which is expected to transform the lives of an estimated 20,000 dialysis patients in Britain, will be demonstrated to patients by a NHS hospital.
The Lister Hospital in Stevenage, part of East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, is the first hospital in the UK to take delivery of the NxStage home haemodialysis machines and it will unveil them to patients on Thursday 2nd July.
Nephrologist, Dr Roger Greenwood, explains: “We are inviting patients to try the NxStage units for themselves on the 2nd and receive training on how to use them. It is our intention then that patients will subsequently be able to take them home.
“We have created an environment reminiscent of a home setting so patients can understand for themselves just how compact and patient-friendly the unit is. This is pertinent when one considers the historical image conjured up by home haemodialysis of Portakabins in the back garden to cater for the sheer size of the hardware and the amount of medical consumables required.”
Only 1.1% of haemodialysis patients currently treat themselves at home. Home haemodialysis is significantly more cost-effective for the NHS than treatment in a hospital or clinic.
It has been predicted that the number of patients requiring dialysis will reach 40,000 by 2018. Factors behind this rise include the ageing population, increase in obesity and lack of donor organs. One should also remember that a transplanted kidney may only have a life of between five and twelve years, depending on the impact of the post-transplant anti-rejection medication.
The Government would like / has a target of 15% of current patients to dialyse at home. This is driven by resource and patient benefits:
o Less disruption to patient’s normal life
o Freeing up of NHS beds and medical staff
o Not having to build additional infrastructure to cope with increase in number of patients requiring dialysis
o No travelling to and from hospital/clinic with consequent journey stress
o Ability for patient to dialyse at convenient time in familiar environment, with family while watching TV if wished
o Home haemodialysis allows for increase in frequency of treatment; typically 3 times per week in clinic but home haemodialysis allows for every day, fewer hours
o Home haemodialysis also offers the option of overnight treatment. Daily treatments and especially overnight are recognised to provide the following benefits.
o Better energy levels following treatment
o Reduced stress on the cardio-vascular system
o Reduced need for blood medications
Leading British healthcare company, Kimal plc was sought out by American company NxStage to be a partner in making the compact home haemodialysis unit available in the UK under an exclusive distribution agreement.
Ken Findlay, Kimal’s Corporate Marketing Manager, said: “The NxStage offering is based upon the Government’s agenda for both ‘Patient Choice’ and treatment in the home. The first tranche of units have been ordered by the Lister and we are working closely with the hospital’s dialysis patients to ensure that they derive the optimum benefits offered.
“This new generation of technology has not only reduced the dialysis machine to the size of a portable TV or table-top sewing machine, but the box it sits on actually converts ordinary tap water into the essential liquid dialysate needed to carry out the treatment, which has massively reduced the storage requirement, thus making the whole process truly user friendly.
“This equipment will allow many patients to literarily claim back days of quality time which are currently spent visiting the dialysis centre.
“Users also have the option of switching to a night-time regime of dialysis which takes longer but is a far more gentle and thorough process on the body and as a result gives improved results all round.”
The NxStage machine is 41 inches high and 20 inches wide. It provides a simple, patient-friendly interface and a drop-in cartridge system rather than the complex tubing set of a typical dialysis machine. It also prepares high purity dialysate from ordinary tap water. The NxStage machine was introduced to the critical care setting in the USA in 2003 and received home indication from the FDA in 2005. It has delivered, to date, over 2 million treatments in America.
Anyone wishing more information on the NxStage unit should visit www.kimal.co.uk or contact Ken Findlay on 01895 450205 or 07977 250427.
SCHEDULE FOR THURSDAY 2nd JULY 2009
VENUE: Lister Education Centre, East & North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, Coreys Mill Lane, Stevenage SG1 4AB.
09:00 Unveiling of NxStage unit to patients & media
09:30 -11:00 demonstration of unit inc patient undergoing dialysis & opportunity to talk to Dr Greenwood and patient
Any member of the media interested in attending should contact James Manning on 01212366116.
For all media enquiries contact:
Ken Findlay Kimal 01895 450205 or 07977 250427
James Manning Metropolis 2 0121 236 6116
Steve Creswell or Peter Gibson Lister Hospital 01438 781736/ 01438 781522
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