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Renal patients travelling five hours for treatment

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Campaigners are calling for a dialysis unit in Oban

Some renal patients in Argyll are going without dialysis treatment due to long journeys to hospitals, campaigners have claimed.

Kidney Dialysis for Oban is calling for a unit to be set up in the town to serve local patients and those who live on the Isle of Mull.

The group's Dave Alsop said patients were making round trips of five hours or more to Campbeltown or Alexandria three times a week. The journey is longer for islanders as they have to take a ferry to the mainland.

Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership said it was committed to delivering high-quality services and patients were sent to the nearest available unit.

Dialysis is a type of treatment that helps remove extra fluid and waste products from blood when a person's kidneys are unable to do that naturally.

Blood is removed from the body to be cleaned before being put back in. The process can take about four hours.

Mr Alsop said: "Dialysis is a very exhaustive procedure.

"It can make you extremely tired and the last thing you really want to be doing is to be travelling."

He added: "I have had emails recently from two patients who either should be on dialysis or are very close to dialysis but are refusing to undertake the treatment because of the travelling times."

Mr Alsop said within the next 18 months there could be up to 14 patients in the Oban and Mull areas requiring dialysis.

He added: "We would like to see a unit in the Oban area."

'Sincerely apologise'

Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership said it was close to reaching the final stages of conducting a needs assessment for hospital dialysis services for the entire population of Argyll and Bute.

A spokesman said: "Residents in the Oban, Lorn and Islands areas are appointed to the nearest available dialysis unit with capacity, which may include Belford Hospital in Fort William, dialysis units operated by Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the health and social care partnership (HSCP).

"We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused to patients requiring travel for specialised hospital dialysis treatment.

"The HSCP recognises that travelling for medical care can be challenging and has arrangements in place to support this group of patients."