New dialysis unit a boost for patients

Carnarvon renal patients no longer have to leave home to receive life-saving medical treatment with the town’s first purpose-built dialysis unit now operational.

The four-chair haemodialysis unit became operational in April, with four Carnarvon residents becoming the first people to begin treatment at the new facility.

Herbert Eagles, Robert Taylor, Ethel Ranger and Marjorie Winmar returned home from Perth, where they had been staying to receive treatment.

WA Country Health Service Gascoyne operations manager Tamara Sweeney said the local team were now able to provide an essential service for some of the region’s most vulnerable patients.

“Renal dialysis is gruelling and time-consuming, and can be made more stressful if patients have to spend long periods of time away from home,” she said.

“We’re proud our experienced local nurses are now able to provide services to patients from Carnarvon’s first purpose-built renal dialysis unit.”

Services are being provided by a WA Country Health Service team of haemodialysis nurses with a nephrologist from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital set to visit regularly.

The facility has four treatment chairs with portable video conferencing capability and one chair located in an isolation room.

Ms Sweeney said the new unit would be an invaluable service.

“It will help many of the most vulnerable in the Gascoyne, including a large proportion of Aboriginal people, for whom treatment on country is essential to their wellbeing,” she said.

The unit is located in the new Carnarvon Health Campus and forms part of the hospital redevelopment and healthcare hub.

Construction was funded as part of the $26.8 million Stage 2 Carnarvon Health Campus redevelopment project.