A Hertfordshire hospital will be the first in the UK to offer patients the chance to take home a new compact dialysis machine the size of a small portable television.
The new NxStage home haemodialysis machines at Lister Hospital in Stevenage mark a huge change for home dialysis, as previous systems required the installation of mobile units due to the size of the equipment involved.
The new units are the size of a small TV or sewing machine – measuring 41ins high by 20ins wide – saving on size by doing away with the need for storing boxes of liquid through the addition of their own dialysate producing plant.
Consultant nephrologist at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, Dr Roger Greenwood, said: “We are inviting patients to try the NxStage units for themselves and receive training on how to use them. It is our intention then that patients will subsequently be able to take them home.
He marvelled at just how compact and patient-friendly the unit was, pointing out that home haemodialysis machines used to be “the size of Portakabins” in order to cater for the size of the hardware and the amount of medical consumables required.
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