Sir, – Over 2,200 people in Ireland have to travel for their life-saving dialysis treatments three times a week, every week, whatever the weather. We are grateful to the Army and Civil Defence for transporting patients who could not otherwise travel due to the current weather conditions.
Our thanks also to the healthcare professionals who are busy reorganising dialysis shifts to adjust for travel delays.
Each year, the equivalent of two new dialysis units is needed to keep up with demand, with the kidney care system currently running at virtually 100 per cent capacity, despite substantial investment. This cold snap is putting even more pressure on the healthcare system.
The importance of reducing the rate of increase of people starting dialysis cannot be overstated. Treatment of each patient costs €125,000 per year or a total of nearly €1 million per day for the more than 2,500 people currently on dialysis. A 2023 Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (Tilda) report shows that more than one in seven of the Irish population aged over 50 years have chronic kidney disease and 98 per cent of them are unaware they have it. Action is needed now to reduce the number of these people developing advanced chronic kidney disease and requiring dialysis in the future.
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Unlike illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, etc, there is no national clinical programme for chronic kidney disease to plan and act for future management. Instead, there is an under-resourced National Renal Office with an unclear role.
To reduce this silent epidemic, the Irish Kidney Association has made five clear recommendations which can be found on our website at www.ika.ie. We hope there will be commitments to action on these in the next programme for government, so fewer people need to start and rely on dialysis. – Yours, etc,
CAROL MOORE,
CEO,
Irish Kidney Association,
Dublin 12.