A TEMPORARY dialysis unit is expected to be operational in Welshpool before the end of the year.
Earlier this year Edwina Hart, the Minister for Health and Social Services, described a dialysis facility for Welshpool as an “immediate priority” and that a temporary unit is anticipated to be operational by November.
Now MP Glyn Davies, who is also a patron of Kidney Foundation Wales, has told the County Times he expects the business case for such a unit to be approved within the next two weeks and an eight station temporary unit to be in place before the turn of the year.
“I expect the unit to be in-place before Christmas if the business case is approved by Edwina Hart,” he said.
“I am pretty confident it will be confirmed and we can then have a temporary eight station unit in place by the hospital within the next three or four months.
“Once the business case is approved and the temporary unit is in place it is then a case of full steam ahead with the permanent unit.”
In May, Edwina Hart confirmed that a new permanent unit with 12 stations is planned to open early in 2012 if the business case is deemed ‘satisfactory’.
It is expected that the permanent unit will be built as an attachment to Welshpool Hospital.
MP Davies added: “A final decision will be made in a couple of weeks time but I do expect the business case to be approved, therefore meaning we can push ahead with plans for a permanent unit.
“Approximately 16 people in Montgomeryshire have renal dialysis about three times a week, so it will be of huge benefit to local people.”
MP Davies also confirmed that there is approximately £15,000 in the Welshpool Renal Dialysis Fund.
The money from the fund, which was only started six months ago and depends entirely on voluntary donations, will go towards ‘enhancing the patients’ experience’ once the unit is built, Mr Davies confirmed.