KIDNEY patients across the Fylde have reason to celebrate this New Year -- thanks to a new £40,000 water treatment unit installed at Devonshire Road Hospital.

The new unit, paid for by Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde Community Health Trust, can supply high quality water necessary to keep up to 20 dialysis machines clean. This will greatly improve the quality of care received by the 22 patients and two holidaymakers who dialyse during the 72 sessions offered at the Blackpool hospital every week.

Previously, each of the six dialysis machines had its own water filter which was extremely noisy. And when the filters were changed they often leaked leaving the floor wet.

Now, with the new efficient unit in a separate room, patients can dialyse in a safer, more comfortable environment.

The water treatment unit has a staggering amount of water to clean: a dialysis machine requires 500ml of water per minute -- that's 3,000 litres per hour! Twelve patients are treated a day in the department -- and that equals 144,000 litres a day.

People suffering from kidney failure have to spend four hours, three times a week attached to a dialysis machine. And anything that can improve the quality and comfort of their care is welcomed say the nursing staff who look after them.

Charge nurse Paul Cairns said: "Sometimes the individual water filters would have to be changed mid-treatment, causing extra delay.

"It was also tiring for the patients to be in a room filled with noisy machinery. Now the whole process is quicker, quieter and we're using better quality water."

And Paul believes this is only the beginning of a real improvement in the service offered to renal patients.

"This is an investment in the future. Now that we have a unit that can supply so many dialysis machines with the pure water they need, we have the possibility of acquiring more machines.

"This is the first stage in the long-term development of renal care in the Blackpool area."