An empty factory in Port Talbot could become the site of a new dialysis centre as part of a £70 million investment in South Wales renal services.
Plans have now been submitted to partly demolish Stationary House in Acacia Avenue, Sandfields, ready to build the state-of-the art unit.
Along with a dialysis centre currently under construction in Bridgend, the Port Talbot development will help relieve pressure on Morriston Hospital and means dialysis patients can be treated closer to home.
Assuming the plans, which also include car park and landscaping work, are approved, it is hoped the centre will be ready by next August.
It will feature 27 stations with a maximum capacity of 108 patients. It will also have a training area for nurses who teach people to dialyse at home.
Renal services are provided by Swansea Bay University Health Board for people in its own area as well as those in Hywel Dda and Cwm Taf Morgannwg health boards.
Existing services include two haemodialysis units at Morriston Hospital – which receive patients from Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend – and one each in Aberystwyth, Carmarthen and Haverfordwest.
With funding from the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee, some major improvements have already been carried out, such as upgrading the five existing haemodialysis units in South West Wales.
Two of these are at Morriston Hospital, with one each in Aberystwyth, Carmarthen and Haverfordwest. Patients there are already benefiting from new dialysis machines and other facilities and equipment.
However, the health board also recognised there is a need for additional dialysis units, covering the Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend areas.
This will allow patients, who currently have to travel to Morriston or Llantrisant, to be treated closer to home.
It will also relieve some of the pressure on Morriston, where increased demand has led to some patients having to be dialysed during the evenings, which is far from ideal.
The Bridgend unit is expected to open this November. Along with the new Port Talbot centre, if approved, it will be run on behalf of Swansea Bay by Fresenius Medical Care, which also runs the three West Wales units.
Fresenius will recruit the staff for the proposed new centre, comprising 18 clinical staff such as nurses, dialysis assistants and healthcare assistants, a clinic manager as well as administrative and housekeeping staff.
The medical care will continue to be provided by the NHS consultants and pharmacists who currently look after the patients in Morriston, ensuring good continuity of care.
Swansea Bay’s Clinical Director for renal services in South West Wales, Dr Clare Parker (pictured above), said: “A community consultation was carried out as part of the planning application, which has now been submitted to Neath Port Talbot Council for consideration.
“If approval is granted, we would hope to start on-site by the end of this year, with the work completed by next August.
“We believe this will be a positive development, and not only for patients who will be able to dialyse closer to home. It will bring new life to a currently derelict site and create new employment in the area.”
