The Irish Kidney Association has said that "patients will die unnecessarily because of untreated renal failure" following a HSE decision not to allow a newclinic in Kilkenny to provide dialysis services in the south-east region.
Chief executive Mark Murphy said yesterday that elderly patients in Carlow, Kilkenny, South Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford are being forced to travel to Dublin for dialysis while the Wellstone Clinic has been lying unused since January.
He said GPs are less likely to refer patients in rural areas for dialysis because of "the mental and physical stress involved" in travelling long distances.
Waterford Regional Hospital is the only facility in the region providing dialysis but is "stretched to capacity". The HSE arranges transport to Dublin for those who cannot be treated locally.
Some are treated at public hospitals but at least 18 patients are currently attending the private Beacon Clinic on the Sandyford industrial estate, which has a contract to provide renal dialysis services for the HSE.
Patients have to endure a round trip - which can last up to 11 hours - three times a week. Mr Murphy said the decision by the HSE "will mean months if not years of hardship and unnecessary travel for mostly elderly patients". He added the number of people requiring dialysis is growing at a rate of 15 per cent annually but that the State's health system has not developed adequate services to meet these needs.
Last year, PEI Ltd, a private Irish medical company, spent an estimated €2 million to build the Wellstone Clinic on the outskirts of Kilkenny. The clinic can cater for 48 patients a week. A spokesman said it was "surprised" that an offer to provide dialysis services for the HSE was unsuccessful because no other alternative facility exists in the south-east region.
Dr Seán Leavey, a kidney specialist at Waterford Regional Hospital said last night that the new Kilkenny clinic is, to the best of his knowledge, "the only immediately viable option to ensure elderly patients do not have to endure unnecessary suffering by having to embark on multiple weekly arduous round-trips to Dublin or Waterford, often at unsociable hours, when a new facility has the capacity to treat patients locally".
A HSE spokesman said it had "conducted a national tender for the provision of additional dialysis capacity" and "is confident that a comprehensive dialysis service will be provided for the south- east area".
