THE Nita Reed Community Dialysis Centre will close in the wake of a Hunter New England Local Health District "audit of the physical infrastructure which showed it was not suitable for future service delivery".
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Dialysis patients recently united to state that "closing the facility is not the option" and urged the Hunter New England Health (HNE Health) to "leave all well enough alone ... what ain't broke don't need being fixed!"
In a joint statement, the patients state in part that:
"It is very sad when some of us within the community believe they have the power to make decision on behalf of some who already have a difficult road to travel. Those of us in this predicament would love to believe they really do care but when faced with difficult crossroads we are clearly the ones who continue to suffer with the potential closure of the Nita Reed Community Dialysis Centre in Chatham.
"Yes, it definitely is a needed base. The haemodialysis that those of us receive weekly is life saving. We have read the research put online by Hunter Health and they have stated that there is growing demand equal to five per cent per annum for this service. So does it make sense to remove this centre or close it? We are not sure what is happening, we are still in the dark and the plan is to move 50 per cent of the service to Forster Private Hospital.
"At the recent meeting of patients it was apparent that only knee jerk reactions were being voiced when questioned about transportation to Forster, the number of patients to the available treatment roster, then the parking facilities. Thinking standing on their feet!
"Why would it be that the management of Forster Private Hospital is prepared to spend $1 million to set-up the haemodialysis facility here? No-one does something for nothing! Yes they do have some oncology services for public patients. There are eight chairs available for 16 patients in total at Nita Reed per week and six chairs at Manning Hospital for those with high care needs only, which services 12 patients per day. This brings us back to the question of who decided that Nita Reed was not needed?
"If these services are taken from Taree what becomes of the hardworking staff who assist us daily. The helpfulness and kindness of those working with us at Nita Reed is beyond question, without them we couldn't begin to think of how our day would be. They all give us hope and encouragement with their assistance which keeps us alive."