BMJ  2008;336:172 (26 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.39465.462396.BE

Letters

Home haemodialysis

UK nephrology misunderstood

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Blagg criticises the UK renal community for lagging behind some other high income countries in the proportion of patients receiving home haemodialysis (HD).¹

A generation of UK nephrologists was forced, by lack of facilities, to give patients a stark choice between home HD, home peritoneal dialysis, or death. As hospital and satellite dialysis facilities have expanded, the proportion of patients receiving home based treatment has rightly reduced. Whether that reduction is due to poor availability or to free choice between home HD and other options remains open to question.

Many patients perceive no advantage of home HD when the alternative is a local satellite dialysis unit. Patients receiving satellite or hospital based HD can also control many aspects of their own treatment. What the "correct" proportion should be cannot be based on comparisons with Australia and New Zealand, where for reasons of geographical dispersion, home HD remains the only viable . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Southmead Hospital, North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol BS10 5NB

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Home haemodialysis

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