Hot Seat South Wales West MS

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DISAPPOINTING news this week about the kidney dialysis units promised for Bridgend and Port Talbot.

I reported last May to Gazette readers that Swansea Bay Health Board was due to provide the two satellite units with a timescale of going out to tender by last August with a view to getting the two new units operational by September this year.

But when I checked on progress with the board this week, chief executive Mark Hackett told me that due to a “prolonged procurement process”, which was outside the control of the health board, the timeline has slipped and the contract has still not been awarded.

Doctors and patients have campaigned for a dialysis unit in Bridgend for the past 20 years so this further delay is extremely upsetting especially for patients who will have to travel to Morriston for dialysis for even longer than expected.

At the moment, the proposal is still with Welsh Government awaiting approval. The plan is to build two new units – one in each town – but even the location proposed for these units cannot be disclosed at present.

I am not sure if this means that they have not yet been selected or they have been chosen but remain secret at the moment. The only thing I know is that each unit must be within two and a half miles of the relevant town which gives a pretty wide circle in which they can be located.

On a happier note, it would appear that the Welsh Health Specialist Services Committee has approved the plan and that approval from Welsh Government is expected within a few weeks. At this point, the contract will be awarded and the locations revealed.

I welcome the fact that we are, hopefully, going to get these renal dialysis units at last and that the many years of campaigning by medics and patients will finally bear some fruit.

Presumably, the new units will take about a year to actually build and equip so by the middle of next year, we may be in a position to see them open.

Fingers crossed!