Improving kidney care – a summary

Kidney clinicians at St Helier and St George’s hospitals have put forward a new proposal to
improve care for their kidney patients. In 2020, the NHS approved plans to build a new
specialist emergency hospital in Sutton. From 2026, all kidney inpatient care will move from
St Helier to this new hospital. This will improve care for our patients, but kidney clinicians
have a proposal they believe is even better.

Instead of continuing to have inpatient kidney care at two hospitals, they would like to bring
this more specialist care together in a single new £80m unit at St George’s Hospital.
The kidney clinicians have put forward this new proposal to improve care for kidney patients
if and when they need inpatient care.

St George’s is well established as a leading centre for kidney transplantation and treatment
of kidney failure. It is the kidney transplantation centre for patients from St Helier and for the
rest of South West London, Surrey and Sussex.

This proposal would mean changes for kidney patients when they need inpatient
(overnight) care.

Instead of going to the new hospital in Sutton in the future, patients would go to a new
kidney unit at the St George’s Hospital site in Tooting for treatment such as transplants,
kidney and vascular access surgery or to treat acute kidney injury.

A small number of outpatient appointments would also change to the new unit at St
George’s. This would mean patients who may need extra support and advice, for
example after a transplant, would go to St George’s. Some outpatient appointments
would also move to St Helier, like training for home dialysis.

All other kidney services will remain as they are. This will mean that 95 percent of a
kidney patient’s contact with kidney services will stay the same. There will be no
changes to existing dialysis services and clinics in local hospitals, units or at home.
The £80m funding for the new kidney unit has been agreed by the NHS.

The proposals also take into account the impact of COVID-19. This is very important as
kidney patients are considered vulnerable patients. The new unit would be designed to
provide safer services in any future pandemic. Infection control and social distancing are
easier to implement in new buildings.

For more information please visit: Improving kidney care – South West London CCG (swlondonccg.nhs.uk)