Transforming kidney care in Marlborough
MEDIA RELEASE
5 November 2025
A new haemodialysis unit opening in Blenheim today (5 November) marks a major milestone for kidney patients in the Marlborough region.
Established and primarily funded by Marlborough Primary Health Organisation (MPH), the four-chair unit is in its own room adjacent to the Urgent Care Centre, allowing privacy and comfort for people whose lives depend on access to haemodialysis.
These are the people who currently commute to the Nelson hospital-based dialysis service, says MPH Chief Executive Beth Tester.
Beth says some patients commute to Nelson Hospital three times a week. This means that each course of treatment involves a four-hour return commute (on average) and up to six hours in the unit on a dialysis machine. Typically, a patient needs a driver – which often falls to a volunteer from the Marlborough Sounds Community Vehicle Trust, a partner or friend. Together, they spend up to 10 hours a day away from home, three days a week.
Beth Tester explains the huge strain this can place on people’s lives – to the point that Marlborough patients have left the region to live somewhere with a unit closer to home.
“Patients and drivers can get back home shattered. It’s an exhausting commute that they have no choice but to make – often in terrible weather and regardless of how someone’s general health is that day.
“It’s hard to have a normal life. Working is nearly impossible. During severe weather events, people sometimes miss their treatment, or it is delayed – but there’s no putting it off for too long because dialysis keeps you alive.”
Beth says the grim reality of the commute for dialysis patients is sometimes reflected in their humour.
“One of our patients has been heard to say that ‘it won’t be the kidney disease that kills him, it will be the travel’.”
‘We want to give people their lives back – less travel, less stress and less risk.”
About the new Haemodialysis Unit at the Urgent Care Centre
Named Tātari Toto, the unit has been established through a collaboration between MPH, Health New Zealand / Te Whatu Ora and local iwi (Rangitāne o Wairau, Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Rārua).
The unit will be primarily funded by MPH for the first two years, with the expectation that the government would fund the service from that point, Beth says.
“Haemodialysis units in New Zealand are usually funded through budgets assigned to hospitals by Health New Zealand, Te Whatu Ora.
“Marlborough Primary Health has taken this into its own hands because the first-hand experiences of those who endure extensive travel for dialysis makes this urgent.
“The patients we have now needing haemodialysis are the tip of the iceberg. We need to act now to be ready for an ageing population and the higher rates of chronic kidney disease expected over the next decade,” Beth says.
The unit is being built in an underutilised lounge in the Urgent Care Centre, minimising overhead costs. Specialist equipment and four dialysis unit chairs (costing $10,000 each) have been purchased with funds donated by The Care Foundation and Marlborough Hospital Equipment Fund.
The unit will be staffed by the new Urgent Care Centre manager (who is also the operations manager of the unit) and two registered nurses.
The unit will operate under national service level standards and be available by booking to patients from Nelson or further afield.
“It can be pretty tough to do things like have a holiday or travel with your kid’s sport tournament team when you need hemodialysis,” Beth says.
“We are delighted to finally be able to provide dialysis in Marlborough – answering decades-long calls for local access.
“And for Marlborough residents living with kidney disease, the new facility represents hope, accessibility, and a better quality of life.”
"We are delighted to finally be able to provide dialysis in Marlborough – answering decades-long calls for local access. And for Marlborough residents living with kidney disease, the new facility represents hope, accessibility, and a better quality of life.”
- Beth Tester, Chief Executive of Marlborough Primary Health