Burnham-On-Sea’s Town Crier, Fred Smith, was among the more colourful patients to be invited to the official opening of Somerset’s new Kidney Dialysis Unit in Taunton this week.
Fred and his wife Shirley came dressed in their period costumes and were warmly welcomed by Unit staff and the National Clinical Director for Renal Services, Dr Donal O’Donoghue, who had been invited to officially open the facility in Taunton.
Fred, who requires kidney dialysis three times a week, had plenty of praise for the new thirteen station dialysis unit in Taunton, saying: “I’m very pleased to be attending the new dialysis service at Creech Castle. It’s just a short distance from the motorway and the seats here are very much more comfortable. We even get digital TV which means if I’m having dialysis for four hours I can enjoy watching a film now if I wish.”
The Taunton Dialysis Unit is one of three new kidney dialysis units which were officially opened in Somerset last week as part of a new and improved Somerset Renal Service. Others have been opened at Frome Community Hospital and in Yeovil.
Pictured are Dr Donal O’Donoghue (National Clinical Director for Renal Services) and Fred Smith, a dialysis patient and Town Crier for Burnham and Highbridge, at the official opening of the new Taunton Kidney Dialysis with Mr Chris Clark, (Managing Director of B.Braun Avitum) and his wife Shirley Smith
