The Irish Kidney Association has says the people it represents are extremely frustrated by delays in providing a new renal dialysis unit at Sligo General Hospital and said that patients were being treated in "unacceptable conditions".
It has been acknowledged by the North Western Health Board that the present facility is not up to standard. Work is due to start on a new unit in the new year, to be completed by late summer/early autumn.
The general manager of Sligo General Hospital, Mr Francis Rodgers, said the provision of the new renal dialysis unit was "the number one priority in terms of capital development".
A number of proposals had been looked at over recent years but it would now definitely happen. "The tender documents are being finalised and the project will start early in the new year," he said. The unit will be located in a building which now houses the nursing school. Some of the delays are blamed on the time taken to find an alternative site for the school.
Mr Rodgers said the renovations should take five or six months and that £1 million would be spent on a "state of the art" facility. He said he could appreciate that there was "a level of frustration" but there was now "an absolute commitment" to get the job started.
Many people involved in the issue are sceptical. The chief executive of the Irish Kidney Association, Mr Mark Murphy, said he did "not believe it at this stage" as he had been told at the start of the year that the unit would be completed by September.
"I'd be delighted if it happened, but it has been excuse upon excuse. This is actually the third set of plans, and the replacement of the unit has been talked about since 1992," he said.
One of the main problems at the present facility is overcrowding. The unit is located in a converted house, not in the main hospital.
Six dialysis machines are in constant use in one partitioned room and patients lie on beds, about three feet apart. For the patients, who range in age from 19 to 82, there is a distinct lack of privacy. Access has also proved a problem, particularly for wheelchair patients, as the corridor is narrow and boxes of supplies are often left in passageways.
Twenty-four patients attend dialysis three times a week, for a period of three to four hours. They come from as far away as west Cavan, south Donegal and Roscommon.
Mr Vincent Woods attended the clinic for two years, until July, when he received a kidney and liver transplant in London. He started writing letters to the North Western Health Board in February to complain about the conditions on behalf of patients. Since then some improvements have been carried out, with new double-glazed windows fitted and a disabled toilet provided.
"It was draughty, people had to put blankets around their shoulders to keep warm. The building is structurally unsuited, a makeshift. It is very cramped and there is no room for private consultation with doctors.
"The staff were tripping over each other. Nurses found it difficult to move the machines around and there were boxes in the corridors," he said.
When patients finish their three or four hours of dialysis they need a meal. "There is no dining area, we had to eat in a room that was a waiting room and also a cloakroom, and it is tiny. We had to eat from our laps or a hospital bed tray."
Mr Banks said he was also concerned about health risks because when people were crowded into a small area there was a greater risk of infections being passed on. He said he had been told by health board managers that the new unit would be completed by next May, but on a previous occasion, they were told a new unit would be provided in March of last year.
"The general atmosphere was degrading for patients and staff," Mr Banks said.
The nurses who run the unit, who have specialist renal qualifications, are praised by all those who have used it. "They have been brilliant and that has made up for it in some respects, but how they work under such conditions, I don't know," Mr Murphy said.
Councillor Sean MacManus, of Sinn FΘin, who has been highlighting the issue, said he was sceptical about the new completion date because he had also been told a year ago that it was "a top priority". He said patients had been receiving promises for years and he was "disturbed by the slowness of the relocation process".