Patients were made to feel part of the process which in turn gave patients a sense of ownership of the new units – something I’ve not encountered in any other dialysis reprovision project.

I first encountered a Diaverum run dialysis unit at Burnley General which, at that time, was managed by the wonderful Terri Simons. The unit was always calm and happy and the unit staff were clearly patient focused.

They were always prepared to facilitate meetings between me and patients who required the support of Kidney Care UK; something which has never been true of some third party providers. I recall one third party unit in particular which would never allow me to meet patients on the unit so, to make it as convenient as possible for the patient, I frequently had meetings with patients in my car on the unit car park!

Most recently I’ve been involved in the dialysis reprovision exercise initiated by the Royal Preston Hospital. Diaverum won the contract and we embarked on a series of meetings to determine the layout of the new units and the re-design of the Kendal unit.

Patients were invited to comment on the designs put forward by Diaverum who worked tirelessly to include those design suggestions from patients in the plans. In short, patients were made to feel part of the process which in turn gave patients a sense of ownership of the new units – something I’ve not encountered in any other dialysis reprovision project. It was a pleasure to work with the Diaverum team who clearly realised the benefit of patient involvement.

I’d happily recommend Diaverum to all renal centres looking to improve their dialysis services.

 

Regards,

RFS