News Archive

Campus kidney machine helps Caroline live student life to the full – University of Reading

Dialysis patient Caroline Morris, 22, is getting the most out of university life thanks to the efforts of staff at Guy's Hospital, south London, and the University of Reading. Caroline, a first year Environmental Science student, would have been faced with the prospect of either travelling back home to Surrey or to a local hospital in Reading at times that might not have been convenient. Now she has a machine installed just round the corner in the student health centre and can fit in visits around her studies and her social life. Caroline said: 'Travelling back home or to a local hospital so frequently would have adversely affected my social and work life at university and would have dominated my life completely. I would have lost some of my independence, which would have been horrible.' In Reading, Caroline is able to call the University's Medical Practice and set up a time for dialysis that it is convenient for her. She continued: 'I can go when I need to and it means that I have the same level of freedom that most other students just take for granted. I am really enjoying student life and, because there are night nurses on duty at the medical centre, I can dialyse at any time – I've been there at 6.30 in the morning before now.' Caroline's kidneys don't work properly and so she needs regular dialysis to clear out the impurities in her blood – she has been a patient at Guy's since she was a little girl – but she doesn't let that stop her enjoying life to the full. Lisa Silas, Lead Nurse for haemodialysis at Guy's, and Technical Manager David Gandy worked with the student health centre at the University of Reading to make this all possible. David points out that it took a couple of days to convert a room in the health centre for haemodialysis and a further day to install and set up the equipment. Lisa explained: 'Caroline's parents approached the Trust for advice about the problem and the student health centre were very willing to work with us to find a solution. 'Many patients on dialysis find that the treatment regime rules their life. It is wonderful to see a young person on dialysis leading a normal life and enjoying it so much. We try wherever possible to give dialysis patients treatment options and make treatment as easy as possible for them, for example opening up satellite dialysis centres so that patients can receive treatment closer to home." end Notes for editors: 1. Contact: Matt Akid, Communications Manager, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital NHS Trust (tel: 020 7922 8120, e-mail: matthew.akid@gstt.sthames.nhs.uk) – Caroline Morris is available for interview. 2. Guy's and St Thomas' provides ¾ million patient contacts in acute and specialist hospital services every year. As one of the biggest NHS Trusts in the UK, it employs over 8,000 staff. The Trust also works in partnership with the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing and Biomedical Sciences of King's College London and other Higher Education Institutes to deliver high quality education and research. Website: www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk