Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Health to detail any steps his Department is taking to improve access to home dialysis for patients with kidney failure.
Minister of Health: My Department is committed to improving access to home dialysis for patients with kidney failure and continues to work with Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts to promote home-based therapies as a key treatment option.
Patients with declining kidney function who require dialysis are assessed by multidisciplinary teams across all five Trusts. Where a patient is clinically suitable for home dialysis, and wishes to pursue this modality, they are supported through a structured education programme followed by a detailed home assessment. This ensures the home environment meets the necessary clinical and technical requirements, including space, water quality, and electrical capacity.
All Trusts actively encourage home dialysis, recognising its benefits for patient independence and quality of life. However, it is also acknowledged that, due to the complexity and comorbidities of some patients, home therapies may not always be feasible. To address these barriers and expand access a number of targeted initiatives are in place including the regional assisted Automated Peritoneal Dialysis (aAPD) programme, managed by Belfast HSC Trust in partnership with an external provider. This allows patients who are unable to independently manage dialysis to receive treatment at home, with daily support from a healthcare assistant.
Building on this, assisted Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (aCAPD) has recently been introduced following a procurement exercise, enabling additional patients to benefit from home-based care.
To further encourage uptake and provide reassurance, the Belfast HSC Trust offers a 24-hour on-call specialist service for all peritoneal dialysis patients across Northern Ireland, ensuring continuous access to expert clinical advice and patients undertaking home haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis are supported through reimbursement of the costs associated with running medical equipment in their homes.
Access to peritoneal dialysis is further supported by timely availability of catheter insertion procedures, with short waiting times. My Department has also invested in enhancing this service through funding to the Northern HSC Trust to provide catheter insertion under local anaesthetic, outside of a traditional theatre setting. This improves access for patients who may previously have been unsuitable for surgery requiring general anaesthesia.
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