Gloucestershire Kidney Patients’ Association is a registered charity which was formed in 1989 to help kidney patients attending Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. This includes haemodialysis patients attending the Cotswold Dialysis Centre at the hospital and also patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis. This kind of dialysis has two types. The most commonly used type is known as Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD). In this form patients have fluid in their abdomen 24 hours a day. At the end of each period of dialysis, they have to change the dialysis fluid themselves. The other type is known as Automated Peritoneal Dialysis (APD). ‘Automated’ means that a machine changes the dialysis fluid for the person, usually at night.  Membership also includes people who are waiting for dialysis or kidney transplants as well as those who have had their transplants.

The Association has a membership of over 200, most of whom are in Gloucestershire, but some also attend GRH from Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Wiltshire.  The aim is to support patients, give them holidays, help with transport to and from hospital, and organise fund raising. Most of the committee are either patients or relatives of patients and have an insight into the needs of other kidney patients. They are at hand to lend an ear to problems, point people in the right direction for specific help and generally be a help to them. They also offer advice on help obtainable from the National Kidney Federation, including the help line and obtaining Kidney Life magazine. They also subscribe towards further specific local research projects at the hospital and of course promote the National Organ Donor Register.

Gloucestershire KPA has recently been able to buy pressure-relieving pads for the dialysis chairs in the unit as well as equipment that may be outside the NHS budget.  Some patients who are on home dialysis may not have space to store the fluids required and the association is able to help in the building of a suitable lean-to.  Two holidays a year are planned and in May five patients and their carers had a week’s holiday in Bournemouth where they had outings arranged around their dialysis sessions.