Our first patients’ received dialysis in May 1989 after Dr Roger Greenwood introduced renal services at the Lister hospital in Stevenage in December 1988.
We have 25 stations in our haemodialysis unit at the Lister, which is positioned next to the hospital’s main entrance. Our haemodialysis unit was extended recently to give patients more space, as well as more comfortable surroundings.
We also have 26 beds dedicated to inpatient nephrology (renal/kidney medicine) on level six in the Lister’s main tower block. This houses facilities for acute haemodialysis.
In 2014 we were proud to open our Renal Research Institute; it was named posthumously after patient patient Lee Haynes, whose family was instrumental in the fundraising effort required to develop the facility.
To give our patients more choice we have a home therapy unit (peritoneal dialysis and home haemodialysis), which is next to our haemodialysis unit on level three at the Lister. Also our haemodialysis patients can take part in the Shared Care programme, which encourages and enables patients to participate in their dialysis.
Dialysis facilities are also provided by the Trust at St Albans City Hospital (16 stations), Luton and Dunstable Hospital (23 stations), Bedford Dialysis Unit on Napier Road, Bedford (16 stations) and Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow (12 stations).
Our renal service is recognised as a specialist referral centre for renal medicine serving most of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and parts of Essex.
We have a team of liaison specialist nurses who support patients before they start dialysis, a team of counsellors and social workers to provide psychosocial support, together with a team of specialist dieticians to provide expert advice on diet and fluid restrictions.
Patients are prepared for kidney transplants by the renal transplant team, which work closely with the transplant centres at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, along with London’s Royal Free and Hammersmith hospitals.
