Greater Southern Health Area Service has ruled out the implementation of a dialysis machine at Leeton District Hospital.

General manager Ken Hampson said there is not suitable demand in town to warrant the extension and there is not the staff to support it.

He said a self-care model could be introduced to allow patients to self-dialyse at the hospital, but GSAHS would prefer people to dialyse at home if possible.

People in some rural areas may be medically suitable to dialyse at home, but unable to due to water quality.

“This model of self-care if for people who are clinically suitable to do dialyse at home,” he said.

“This is not an option for people who require renal dialysis. It’s for people that are able to manage their own treatment.”

Renal disease patients in Leeton and Hay who are unable to self-dialyse, currently travel to Griffith Base Hospital for five hours a day up to three times a week.

Mr Hampson said individuals using self-care dialysis at Leeton District Hospital could receive telephone support from staff in Wagga if necessary, but could not be attended to by qualified staff on the ground.

“To have the actual unit, you have to have the numbers in the town,” he said.

“The difficulty we have sometimes is that we just can’t get the number of nursing staff to support it. The unit at Griffith, which has seven chairs, is only just fully staffed as it is and most of these patients are at the end stages of renal failure.”

Mr Hampson admitted constant travel can be burdensome.

“That’s why we have renal dialysis sites in towns around the area so patients are travelling reasonable time frames,” he said.

“There is about a one-and-a-half hour limit people should have to travel.”