Updated 14 March 2023
Forest Dialysis Unit is operated by B. Braun Avitum UK Limited. The service provides haemodialysis and dialysis for patients in renal failure to NHS patients over the age of 18 under a contract with Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The unit is located in a purpose-built building in a rural area on the outskirts of Cinderford, Gloucestershire. It has 12 dialysis stations, 4 of which are in private side rooms.
Patients typically live in the Forest of Dean although the unit also provides treatment to patients in the area on holiday under an NHS England scheme. Patients receive care in dialysis chairs and the unit is open 6 days per week from 7am to 6.30pm.
The provider registered this location in 2012. A registered manager is in post and the service is required to carry out the following regulated activities:
- Diagnostic and screening procedures
- Treatment of disease, disorder or injury
We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services which have had a recent Direct Monitoring Approach (DMA) assessment where no further action was needed to seek assurance about this decision and to identify learning about the DMA process.
We last inspected the service in May 2017. At that inspection we did not have a duty to rate and instead published a narrative report. We found 5 breaches of the Health and Social Care Act (2014) in relation to regulation 12 and regulation 17 and issued requirement notices to the provider. At this inspection we found the provider had made some improvements and addressed some of the issues that contributed to the previous breaches of regulation. However, there were still areas for improvement.