A renal consultant answers: "EU and EEA citizens can have holiday dialysis in NHS units and this is left to local units to agree, which they willingly do but only if they have space: The Imperial hospitals run dialysis units at various locations including St Marys, Charing Cross, Hammersmith, West Middlesex, Ealing hospitals (among others) but they are usually full and find it difficult to accommodate visitors but can be asked (best contact is the senior dialysis manager at the Hammersmith (Auchi) dialysis unit who manages overall patient distribution. This is the general position in London: dialysis units in holiday resorts always have capacity. The alternative, yes is dialysis in one of the private units (Cromwell Hospital is the nearest, but also Lister Hospital in Chelsea and Wellington hospital in N London) for which they will have to pay full costs (about £500-800 per session)." |