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Renal services

Images of Renal Services offered across East Kent Hospitals featuring Thomas Beckett Dialysis unit, blood pressure and Home-Haemodialysis

The Canterbury Renal Unit is based at Kent and Canterbury Hospital (K&C) and provides renal service for the 1.25 million population of East Kent and the Medway and Maidstone districts of West Kent. Kent and Canterbury Hospital was first established in 1793 and moved to its current site in 1937. The renal unit was built in 1971 and started to provide dialysis treatment in 1972. 

There are now 368 patients on haemodialysis, nearly 72 patients on peritoneal dialysis and over 360 patients who have functioning renal transplants. In addition to a haemodialysis unit at K&C, patients are dialysed at satellites units in Margate, Medway, Maidstone, Dover and Ashford. The Home therapies team is responsible for provision of peritoneal dialysis service and runs a growing home haemodialysis programme, thus allowing a full choice of renal replacement therapies tailored to the need of individual patients. Outreach services are currently provided in Ashford, Folkestone, Margate, Maidstone, Medway and Dover. Home and community outpatient services have also been recently established.

Patients suitable for Kidney Transplant are referred to surgeons from Guy's Hospital, London, who hold weekly clinics at Kent and Canterbury Hospital. Surgery for transplant is done at Guy's Hospital after which patients are transferred back to Canterbury for further follow up.

Both the medical and nursing staff take keen interest in research and regularly present their work at international meetings. The unit is carrying out research in a number of important areas. The department has a particular interest in epidemiology of chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease in renal patients, and use of IT in development of protocols for improving the quality and efficiency of renal service.

There is a weekly CME meeting where journal clubs and topic teaching is used to keep junior and senior doctors abreast of the latest developments in the field of nephrology. Renal unit actively participates in teaching house officers, medical students and nurses.

Haemodialysis Units

Kent Kidney Care Centre provides dialysis services for east and west Kent. Currently, there are six haemodialysis units based in; Canterbury, Margate, Maidstone, Medway, Dover and Ashford. The units are staffed by a Unit Manager with Registered Nurses, Nursing Associates, Dialysis Assistants and a Ward Clerk. Each shift is supervised by a Consultant Nephrologists. All patients are seen regularly by their supervising Nephrologist who reviews the adequacy of their dialysis and biochemical parameters monthly. Nutritional status of the patients is assessed by Renal Dieticians with input from a Renal Pharmacist plus there is support from the Renal Care Navigator and Renal Counsellors is available to Centre and Satellite Unit patients.

 

The Thomas Beckett Centre Unit, Kent and Canterbury Hospital

Canterbury is the centre unit for the haemodialysis service.  Patients usually start on the programme at the Canterbury unit until they are established and stable on dialysis. Once this has been achieved patients are be transferred to a satellite unit nearest to their place of residence. Canterbury unit has 30 stations and dialyses 140 patients at full capacity.

All patients dialyse at least three times per week, with a few dialysing four or five times per week.

 

Opening times:

The Units are open from Monday to Saturday from 7am - 11.30pm.

Patients Shifts:

There are two to three patient shifts per day:

Monday / Wednesday / Friday - Morning:              7am to 1.30pm
Monday / Wednesday / Friday – Afternoon:           1.30pm to 7.30pm

Tuesday / Thursday / Saturday – Morning:            7am to 1.30pm
Tuesday / Thursday / Saturday – Afternoon:         1.30pm to 7.30pm

In addition, there is a Twilight shift on Monday/Wednesday/Friday evenings for patients who work or have commitments during the day. Most patients on this shift are physically very well and drive themselves in for dialysis. Transport can now be provided for those patients wanting to undertake their dialysis on Twilight shifts. At present, Canterbury and Medway are the two Units that run Twilight shifts


The Alan Squirrel Satellite Renal Services Unit at Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital, Margate
QEQM is a District General Hospital located in the Thanet peninsula south east of Canterbury.

The Alan Squirrel Satellite Renal Services Unit at Medway Hospital
A busy District General Hospital located in the Gillingham, about 35 miles from Canterbury.

Maidstone Kidney Care Centre
24 stations operating 2 shifts daily at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Hospital about 32 miles from Canterbury.

Dover Renal Satellite Unit
Located at Buckland Hospital in Dover. It has 11 stations.

Ashford Satellite Renal Services Unit
Located at William Harvey Hospital, Ashford. It has 15 stations which operate in two shifts

Home Haemodialysis
Managed by the home dialysis team. Undertaking this treatment at home offers you more flexibility with your time as you may wish to dialyse for shorter more frequent sessions. For more information please go to the Home haemodialysis page.

 

Contact Marlowe Ward

General Nephrology Ward Area

  • 01227 783100

Short Stay Area

  • 01227 783100

Acute Nephrology Area

  • 01227 866456

Allan Squirell Renal Unit, Margate

  • Tel: 01843 234270

  • Advanced Kidney CareInformation for patients about our Advanced Kidney Care (AKC) clinics, treatment options and education programmes.
  • Haemodialysis at HomeHome haemodialysis offers people with end stage renal disease (ESRD) an opportunity to have their dialysis treatments in their own homes.
  • Haemodialysis UnitsInformation about our specialist Haemodialysis Units across east Kent.
  • Kent Renal Counselling ServiceCounselling is an opportunity to share your thoughts, feelings and experiences completely confidentially.
  • Marlowe WardInformation for patients about our renal ward at Kent & Canterbury Hospital.
  • Renal DieteticsRenal dietitians specialise in assessing nutritional requirements for those people with kidney problems, taking into account their complex needs. Renal dietitians aim to ensure patients are at their best nutritional status possible at all times.
  • Renal OutpatientsInformation for patients about our renal outpatients clinics at Kent and Canterbury Hospital.
  • Renal ResearchInformation about renal research projects at East Kent Hospitals.
  • Renal TransplantInformation about different types of kidney transplants.
  • Peritoneal dialysisInformation about peritoneal dialysis
  • Patient leafletsPatient leaflets
  • Renal Access Team

Renal Consultants

There are ten Consultant Nephrologist and an Associate Specialist, who in addition to Kent and Canterbury Hospital, provide cover and do clinics in several East and West Kent Hospitals:

NameJob titleSpecialty
Abbas, Dr NasirConsultant NephrologistNephrology
Abdelbaset, Mr MohammedSpeciality DoctorUrogynaecology
Abdulkadir, Dr Aminu Consultant Cellular PathologistCellular Pathology
Abdul-Malik, Dr BushraSpecialty DoctorChild Health
Abdulraham AbedTrauma & OrthoTrauma
Aboualfa, Dr KareemConsultant Cellular PathologistCellular Pathology
Abubakar, Dr SaiduConsultantGeriatrics and Stroke Medicine
Adegoke, Dr Kenneth ConsultantAnaethetics
Agirre-Arrizubieta, Dr ZaloaConsultant Clinical NeurophysiologistNeurophysiology
Agrawal, Dr GautamiSpecialty DoctoerRadiology

Specialist Registrars

There are four training posts for Specialist Registrars from the South Thames rotation. The registrars spend one year in Canterbury and gain experience in all areas of Nephrology except acute transplantation.  A Research Registrar takes part in 1:5 on-call rota and does one outpatient clinic per week.

Foundation one and two doctors

The department provides training to two to four foundation doctors as part of their speciality rotation

Nursing staff 

Over 100 nurses are involved in the care of patients attending the Unit.

Each cclinical area has one Band 7 Manager / Sister who is responsible for the day to day care of patients.

At a senior level there is also a Nurse Consultant, Senior Matron, Matron for Marlowe ward and Renal Transplant services and Matron for Dialysis. Links have been established with Christchurch Nursing College in Canterbury to improve education and training of renal nurse practitioners. The Unit provides a high level of education and training for all levels of staff.

Marlowe Ward staff

The ward is staffed by two teams of specialist nurses and Healthcare assistants, one lead by the Ward Manager and one lead by the Acute Inpatient Dialysis Manager. The acute dialysis nurses are responsible for providing dialysis for our inpatients and the nurses rotate between these two teams thus maintaining their specialist skills. The short stay area is staffed by a dedicated nurse and Healthcare assistant.

Multidisciplinary Team

Full cover is provided by a multidisciplinary team including;

  • Renal Counsellor
  • Dietitian
  • Social worker
  • Occupational therapist
  • Physiotherapist
  • Advanced Kidney Care Nurses
  • Home Dialysis Nurses
  • Transplant nurses
  • Pharmacist

The ward team are complimented by our ward clerks and house-keepers.

Getting to our hospitals

For information of getting to our hospitals by car, public transport or NHS transport, plus details of car parking availability - please see the link below:

Find your way around our hospitals

Click the links below to view and download maps of our hospitals:

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What should I bring with me when I stay in hospital?

 Please refer to the 'You stay in hospital' section of our website.

Q: What are the visiting hours for the Marlowe (Renal) Ward at K&C?

Marlowe Ward visiting hours and contact details can be found below: