Grey Bruce Health Services is expanding its dialysis clinic so that more patients can receive treatment closer to home.

The Dialysis Clinic is now open for an additional three evenings per week - on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays until 11:00 p.m. This increase to clinic hours will allow an additional six patients to be treated at the Owen Sound Regional Hospital, and is more accommodating to patient schedules.

Most patients with kidney failure require dialysis treatment three times per week, and the treatment lasts for four hours.

"Expanding our clinic will make a significant difference to the lives of those patients and families who spend most of their week on the road travelling to London for dialysis," said Lance Thurston, President and CEO of GBHS. "We are very pleased that more patients from Grey Bruce can now be treated right here in Owen Sound."

The GBHS clinic works in partnership with London Health Sciences Centre and the Southwest Regional Renal Program. After a careful review of the number of patients who travel outside of the GBHS catchment area to receive dialysis, the clinic was approved for expansion. The total number of patients that can now be treated at the GBHS clinic is 36.

"Through our eight satellite dialysis units across southwestern Ontario, the Regional Renal Program at London Health Sciences Centre is ensuring patients can receive this critical treatment closer to home," states Janice McCallum, Regional Renal Director, London Health Sciences Centre and Ontario Renal Network.

source: media release, Grey Bruce Health Services