THE MOTHER of a woman whose journey to have dialysis has more than doubled during coronavirus has called for answers about when the service will return to the Horton.

Jasmine Parker, 30, has been having dialysis three times a week for more than four years due to kidney failure and until March was able to do the four-hour treatment near her home in Banbury.

But due to the pandemic the dialysis unit at the Horton General Hospital was moved to Oxford's Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, where it remains.

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Her mother Diane Wincott, who drives her daughter home after work, said: “When my daughter is on dialysis in Banbury she’s away from her family for around four and half hours as she lives not far from the Horton.

“But going to Oxford she is away for anything between seven and eight hours. That is a big difference which has an impact on her and her family. We need answers about what is happening.”

The 56-year-old, who donated her kidney to Miss Parker in 2011 in an ultimately unsuccessful transplant, said: “My daughter has a family. She has two children and with having to go to Oxford three times a week to dialyse on the machine for four hours at a time she has to get transport there and I go and pick her up after I finish work to get her home.”

The mother-of-four said they were at first told by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs both sites, that the unit was being used for Covid patients then that the unit was having work done on it.

She said: "They were told they would be back by June. The patients have been trying to find out how much longer they are going to be at Oxford but just keep getting fobbed of with excuses.

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"It's not just about Jasmine it's about all of the patients in that unit, many are elderly and they all need to know how much longer this will continue."

Allie Thornley, matron and clinical lead for renal medicine at the trust said: “I would like to thank our Banbury patients and staff for their understanding during this period of the temporary relocation of the Horton Renal Unit to the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford.

“The move was made to ensure patient safety as part of the trust’s urgent response to Covid-19.

“We are very grateful to patients, as we appreciate the difficulties of travelling to Oxford regularly.”

She added: “We are now working hard to return the dialysis service to the Horton General Hospital and to provide a safe and convenient environment for our patients to be treated closer to home. As soon as we have a confirmed date, our patients will be the first to know.”