System under strain
Director says work needed to meet growing demand for kidney service across province
The rapidly rising demand for kidney service is challenging the P.E.I. health system, says the director of provincial renal services.
Cheryl Banks says more hemodialysis spaces are needed in all four sites, but particularly at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown and the Prince County Hospital in Summerside.
Currently, 113 Islanders receive hemodialysis — a treatment that cleans the blood. That is up from 46 in 2009. The number of people requiring hemodialysis is expected to continue to grow by 12 to 15 people per year.
Space is at a premium for treatment at the QEH, which has capacity for 67 patients, as well as at the Prince County Hospital with capacity for 27 that is soon to increase to 30. At Souris Hospital there is capacity for 12, while at Western Hospital in Alberton it is eight.
“As of today we are pretty much full across the province… we need to look at what we need to do,’’ says Banks.
“I think it is fair to say that in the next little bit we will need to have more capacity.’’
Banks says the province has about 50 dialysis machines and is purchasing two to three more machines each year at a cost of $23,000 to $25,000.
There is also a scramble to staff the four sites as nurses undergo six weeks of training to take on the job.
“We have a clinical educator for hemodialysis who has been training (nurses) steadily over the last year to staff all four sites,’’ says Banks.
“The province and Health P.E.I. are dedicated to these patients…we are doing everything we can to meet these people’s needs.’’
Banks says inconvenience to patients is the greatest fallout of capacity being stretched to the limit at the four hemodialysis sites.
Some patients are asked to shift their treatment times while others are forced to travel outside their home site, which in one case currently sees a patient travelling from Charlottetown to Souris to receive hemodialysis treatment.
Jon Vandergaag, 36, of Stratford is well aware of the growing strain on the hemodialysis system in P.E.I.
Vandergaag, who was diagnosed at 14 with inflammation of the kidneys, goes to the QEH three days a week for four hours of dialysis at a time.
He says front-line workers are desperate for support but are terrified to ask for any.
“There is a lot of discouragement in there,’’ he says.
“The staff is working so hard… the nurses, the doctors and staff are incredible in that department. They are exceptional.’’
Vandergaag is not interested in fussing over his own situation as much as he is keen to see a strained dialysis system in need of urgent attention improve for the many other patients concerned.
He says machine repairs are taking longer than in the past. Over the past couple of weeks, he adds, chairs are more frequently in need of repair in the dialysis unit at the QEH.
And, most concerning, there simply needs to be more dialysis spaces at the QEH, he observes.
“If we had a few more (spaces), it would be great,’’ says Vandergaag.
“The dialysis unit needs to expand.’’