A number of improvements have been made into renal services at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, following findings from a recent Patient Safety Incident Investigation into the suspension of dialysis at Bedford Renal Unit in February 2024.
Findings of the report were discussed at our public Trust Board Meeting on Wednesday 15 January – you can view the report, full board papers and watch for the meeting here.
Dr Justin Daniels, medical director at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust said:
“The care of patients with chronic kidney failure is complex and patient safety is our top priority.
“We acknowledge the findings of the recent investigation into the incident at Bedford Renal Unit and apologise for the impact this had on our patients and staff.
“Where issues like this arise, we always take swift action – including suspending dialysis if necessary, and ensuring improvements are put in place rapidly.
“We have taken immediate steps to address a number of concerns raised during the report and continue to prioritise longer-term improvements to ensure patient safety.
“We encourage our renal patients and their families to continue speaking to our staff if they have any questions.”
Many actions identified by the report are already in place and ongoing improvements are being made to a number of key areas including to the monitoring of water quality, ensuring our long-term dialysis capacity and service resilience, and improving our risk management.
We would like to thank our patients, their families, and the Lister Area Kidney Patient Association (LAKPA) for their involvement in the investigation. We will continue to provide regular, timely updates on the progress of our improvement work.
Following the public Trust Board meeting on Wednesday 15 January, Kirit Modi MBE, Chair of LAKPA said:
“I was pleased to attend the Trust’s Board meeting today and participate in the discussion about the report on the closure of the Bedford Renal Unit last year.
“It was a positive meeting and I shared LAKPA concerns about the lack of timely investment in the infrastructure of the five units by the Trust and the importance of taking action to increase the confidence of patients in the dialysis service.
“While we greatly welcome the actions already taken by the Trust, there is an urgent need for the Trust to address outstanding issues.
“LAKPA will continue to work in partnership with Trust staff to ensure that the lessons from the closure of the Bedford unit are learnt and implemented.”
Notes to editors:
- The initial findings of the report identified a number of key themes around water quality, equipment, protocols and processes, and capacity of the service.
- We have not waited for the final report before acting. So far, we have:
- Enhanced our water quality monitoring processes
- Engaged expert engineers to oversee and verify all maintenance works
- Continued improvements to our risk management framework to ensure greater accountability and transparency of risk management ownership.
- Made significant investments to improve dialysis infrastructure. These include the installation of new RO plants and water ring replacements across Bedford, St Albans, inpatient areas.
- Committed to developing a 20-station modular dialysis unit, which is expected to be operational on the Lister site by March 2025. This new unit will significantly increase our long-term dialysis capacity and enhance service resilience.
