We know how important it is for patients and families to be able to see visitors. Please help us keep our patients and staff as safe as possible by checking the guidance below before you visiting.
Read more on visiting times...
We recognise the impact that a long stay in hospital can have on families and the importance of maintaining strong communication. Our ward staff are keeping in touch with patients’ next of kin directly and our Voluntary Services team can help pass on personal messages from family and friends.
After suspending visiting earlier in the year, we are now able to offer limited visiting to some wards at the discretion of the nurse in-charge.”
Read more on visiting times...
We recognise the impact that a long stay in hospital can have on families and the importance of maintaining strong communication. Our ward staff are keeping in touch with patients’ next of kin directly and our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) can help pass on personal messages from family and friends.
The Queen Alexandra Hospital is located just on the hill slopes of Portsdown Hill overlooking Portsmouth. It is conveniently situated for both the M27 and A3M.
Family members and carers play an important role in supporting patients during an episode of ill health. We are committed to the active involvement of family members, friends and carers during a hospital stay. Family members and carers play an important role in supporting patients during an episode of ill health.
More information on visiting hospital for an appointment.
If you've had experience of using our services and would like to make a comment then please contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). Your views are very important to us and we would like to hear where you think improvements are needed or where things have gone so well that you would like to share your thanks or gratitude with the staff involved. When things have not gone so well then you can be sure that we want to hear from you, so please get in touch with PALS.
Our Strategy – Working Together, Improving Together
Our strategy sets out our vision, values, strategic aims and most importantly, how we will deliver against these ambitions for our patients, communities, and people in the future.
It is not just a document, it is for and about everyone at PHU, building on what we have achieved with a renewed focus on continuous improvement and the need to continue to work together and improve together to achieve our goals.
A full copy of the strategy can be downloaded here.
For more information, please visit our strategy webpage.
There are lots of opportunities for you to get involved with the Trust, from volunteering to attending our public meetings, our Annual General Meeting or our hospital open day which is held every year.
We welcome and value your feedback and use the views you share with us in a number of ways to learn and make improvements as well as sharing best practice. Feedback can be provided in a number of ways.
Last updated: 28 June 2023
The Wessex Kidney Centre manages patients with all Nephrological illnesses including acute, chronic, and end stage renal failure in patients of age 16 years upwards. All modalities of Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT) are available – haemodialysis (HD), haemodiafiltration (HDF), peritoneal dialysis (PD), automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) and Renal Transplantation.
A comprehensive range of investigative procedures for all renal diseases is provided. The transplantation service provides an organ retrieval service, which has strong links with intensive care units and multi-organ transplant centres nation-wide.
The WKC has its own integral out-patient department and the facility to see programme patients as emergencies during the day. If you have provided us your mobile number a text reminder is sent to you before your appointment date. If you want to withdraw from this service, please let reception know.
When you arrive for your appointment, please let reception know so they can record your attendance. Also if there are any changes in your contact details please let reception know so your record can be updated on our systems.
There are three dedicated Inpatient wards: G6, G7 and G9. The current bed complement is 45-49, with an additional 6 beds on the Renal Day Ward.
Access to the Hospital is 24 hours a day / 7 day’s a week, however, visiting hours in Renal wards are generally 2pm until 5pm and then 6.30pm until 8.00pm. Please note that some of our wards have age restriction and do not allow children under the age of 12 years.
There is a quiet room for visitors that can be accessed during visiting hours.
The Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) Team is based in Fareham Community Hospital within the Renal Unit. The PD department is open Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 5pm and there is a PD Nurse on call from 8am to 8pm on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays.
Our aim is to encourage our patients to be independent and manage their own dialysis at home with the support of the team. In order to facilitate this, we provide home based training and patient follow up. We also run an out-patient based treatment facility.
There are two main types of PD, which can generally be adapted to fit around your lifestyle. We select the therapy type and system according to the patient’s needs and offer both surgical and medical insertion of PD catheter. We have 3 Consultant Nephrologists with a specialist interest in PD, who run clinics for our patients on 6 different sites across the region.
We work very closely with the other departments within the Wessex Kidney Centre and believe that all renal patients should be on the right therapy, in the right place, at the right time.
The Peritoneal Dialysis Team at the Wessex Kidney Centre is both nationally and internationally recognised for their expertise in PD and the quality of the care that they deliver to their patients.
The Wessex Kidney Centre set about establishing a new Home Haemodialysis (HHD) programme in 2009 in response to the NICE recommendations and patient advocacy. Prior to this there had been no HHD programme since 1999. The unit has now established a large and rapidly growing HHD programme including a number of patients on nocturnal therapy. Due to the success of our programme the HHD team are regularly invited to other units and conferences to share our experience.
The programme is run by Dr Natalie Borman (the Consultant lead), Dr Nick Sangala, Sister Nikki Pacy and 3 additional nurses.
The team has a training facility based at Fareham Community Hospital and have exceeded the NICE recommendations that 10% of all HD patients should be dialysing at home. The team are also active in the Low Clearance clinic to ensure that HHD is considered as an option for all.
The team works hard to promote HHD and have participated in a number of media events including television, radio and newspaper articles to raise awareness of HHD for dialysis patients and the general public. A number of awareness days for staff and patients have also taken place, with a plan to continue providing these across the region.
The team provides monthly reviews for all patients in their home in addition to specialist clinics and the team are contactable 6 days a week for patient quires.
Research is a key part of our programme with several studies planned for the near future.
WKC has the largest NxStage HHD programme in the world, with Dr Borman and Sister Pacy leading the education and advisory groups in Europe.
We are committed to providing a programme which adapts to the needs of our patients and have successfully overcome many perceived barriers to make the programme that success that it is today.
The Transplant team is led by Mr Rupesh Sutaria (Clinical Director, Transplantation). The service provides acute and chronic transplantation services for the region, including all work up, surgical, nephrological and nursing care, dedicated anaesthetic staff, transplant coordinators (living donor, recipient and post-transplant), surgery and immediate, middle- and longer-term post-transplant management for donors and recipients. Hand-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy is the donor operation of choice although it is likely that we will offer robot assisted surgery to selected patients in the future. There are a good number of local DCD (Donation after Cardiac Death) donations and a dynamic and increasing living donor programme, with one of the highest number of non-directed altruistic donations in the country. The local commissioners favour transplantation, particularly pre-emptive (where patient has not started dialysis yet). Four Nephrologists provide the immediate peri- and post-transplant care with the transplant surgeons and specialist nursing team.
Alongside transplant surgery services we have involvement in emergency and elective general surgery, paediatric surgery and non renal vascular access. This allows us to provide a full surgical service to the majority of patients who come through the renal unit.
Six transplant surgeons also provide a dedicated vascular access service, with good links to vascular imaging and interventional radiology, and excellent primary and secondary patency rates. This is evidenced by more than 80% of the service’s patients dialysing via a native fistula or graft, with the expectation of exceeding 85%. Two vascular access specialist nurses provides and coordinates fistula and graft monitoring with pre-emptive investigation and treatment, further maintaining good access quality.
The Unit takes on around 110 new patients with end stage renal failure per million adult population per year, and undertakes approximately 100 renal transplants per year, including ABO-incompatible transplants. It refers patients for pancreas-kidney transplantation to the Oxford Transplant Centre, which performs monthly assessment clinics within the outpatient department on the Renal Unit. The unit has around 1000 patients with functioning transplants.
The Unit employs Living Donor Transplant Coordinators, Recipient Transplant Coordinators, Renal Dietitians, Renal Pharmacists, an excellent admin team and a Transplant Immunosuppression Service team. There are excellent committed nurse specialists in vascular access, transplantation, pre-dialysis care, home haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and anaemia management, who actively participate in and lead multidisciplinary team meetings, nurse-led and -supported clinics, audit and research.
For a variety of reasons, sometimes patients are unable, or choose not to receive dialysis or a transplant when their kidneys fail. There is much that can be done these days to improve symptoms of kidney disease for those patients not on specific renal replacement therapy.
Conservative care focuses on a patient’s quality of life, rather than initiating medical interventions which may not be appropriate in some cases. This approach involves treating anaemia with erythropoietin, dietary changes and sometimes medication to control symptoms. This happens alongside discussions with the patient regarding their wishes for their healthcare for the future.
TheWKC has an on-site haemodialysis centre with 25 stations at Queen Alexandra Hospital. In addition, theWKC has eight satellite dialysis units.
Four are NHS run and staffed: Milford-on-Sea, New Forest (7),Bognor Regis (14 stations), Totton in Southampton (9) and the Isle of Wight (10). The remainder are privately run and subcontracted; Basingstoke (16) and Chandlers Ford, Southampton (18) with Fresenius; Havant, Portsmouth (22), Salisbury (10) with Diaverium and B Braun.
The current five-year development plan with commissioning partners delivered full outpatient haemodialysis capacity in 2013. Further expansion is being planned with the Trust and external consultation. Renal Consultants hold regular dialysis clinics within the units. Peritoneal dialysis, home haemodialysis and transplant patients beyond the first three months are all seen as close to home as possible. At least 60% of outpatient activity occurs away from the Portsmouth hub.
Dr Katey Flowers leads the Haemodialysis sub group within the WKC.
