6 Meet the team – dialysis with a difference Located on the grounds of St Pancras Hospital is the unassuming Kidney and Diabetes Centre which provides crucial care to over 200 patients a day. Across its two floors you will find 34 staff who care for patients on dialysis – the process of removing excess water and toxins from the body, simulating the work of the kidney. Ida Rebello, lead nurse for frailty/dialysis, heads up the nursing team at the unit, also known as the Mary Rankin Dialysis Unit, having first begun working for the RFL in 2002. At first Ida had no interest in working in dialysis nursing, but soon grew to love the area. “After my graduation I seemed to just fall into dialysis as that is what was allocated to me,” Ida says. “Initially I wanted to work in a medical ward so that I could look after patients who were really unwell, but eventually I started to get to know dialysis patients more and I really started to enjoy it. “We see patients more than we sometimes see our own family and friends. We get to know them, and their situations and difficulties. There is something new when I speak to them every time, whether that is financial difficulties or family difficulties, and I can hopefully help them with that.” The unit sees hundreds of patients a day across three different time slots – morning, afternoon and twilight. Downstairs there are two bays with 15 beds in each. “We have a mix of ages, from 18 right up to 91,” Ida explains. “Some patients are frail and others can manage independently. We have quite a lot of stretcher and wheelchair patients who we mainly dialyse in the afternoon so they can rest in the morning. Transport has a part to play there, and I attend the transport meeting every Tuesday to present how transport has gone in the previous week. We do not want to have incidents where we delay a patient going home, but it is not always easy.” Raymond Chinehasha is senior charge nurse and looks after the three sessions of outpatient dialysis. “Patients come in on either Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and we are closed on Sunday, but some patients might be healthy enough for just two slots a week which gives more capacity. Members of the team at the dialysis unit Raymond Chinehasha, senior charge nurse Ida Rebello, lead nurse frailty/dialysis at the unit “We see patients more than we sometimes see our own family and friends. We get to know them, and their situations and difficulties”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTI5NzM=