Health Minister Simon Corbell visited the new Tuggeranong service on Wednesday. Photo: Rohan Thomson
Patients with kidney disease in Canberra are set to become the first in Australia to be able to access public dialysis services at night, under a push to increase services in the ACT.
Seventeen new renal dialysis stations will be opened in Tuggeranong and Belconnen, which Health Minister Simon Corbell said would see access to renal dialysis in the ACT increased by more than 50 per cent.
“Operating these vital services on the north and south of Canberra will provide renal patients in the region with convenient access to dialysis, with longer opening hours and less travelling time, depending on which side of Canberra they reside in,” he said in a statement.
The new service in Belconnen opens on Monday and will offer 24 renal dialysis treatment stations, including 12 designed to provide “nocturnal” dialysis, making it the first public provider of such a service in the country.
The two services will be delivered by Diaverum? and will see the number of dialysis treatment stations in the ACT increased from 31 to 48.
“Both of the services will provide comprehensive clinical care for renal patients, including dialysis and post-transplant care for patients with kidney diseases,” Mr Corbell said.
The services will be co-located within existing ACT Community Health Centres