Renal Dialysis Unit

Getting here

Find us at:

Location details

Enter via the Werribee Mercy Hospital main entrance. The Renal Dialysis Unit is located on the ground floor, opposite Zouki Café and next to the Day Procedure Unit.

On-site signage and indicators

Look for the Renal Dialysis Unit signs on-site.

How can people get access?

Parking

Parking is available at the Werribee Mercy Hospital site. A pick-up and drop-off zone at the main entrance is also available.

There are car parking spaces reserved for renal dialysis patients. Please speak to staff or the car park attendant for more information about these parking spaces.

The nearest car park is the main entrance car park which is accessed via the main hospital entrance on Hoppers Lane. Parking spaces are limited in the main entrance car park.

If the main entrance car park is full, additional parking is available in the multi-storey car park at the back of the hospital. This car park can be accessed from the Princes Highway, after the Emergency Department entrance.

Parking costs are available on the main hospital information page.

Accessible parking is available in the main entrance car park for patients and visitors who hold a valid disability parking permit. Accessible parking is also available near entrances to the Emergency Department, Outpatient Clinic and Maternity Unit.

Patient bus service

The Werribee Mercy Hospital bus service is a free service to help you get around our hospital. The bus transports patients and visitors between the following locations:

1. Multi-storey car park
2. Hospital main entrance
3. Gabrielle Jennings Centre (palliative care inpatient service)
4. Outpatient Clinics

The bus operates seven days a week from 8.00am – 8.00pm.

If you need the bus service, please call (03) 8754 3000 to arrange transport.

The Renal Dialysis Unit can be accessed by pressing the doorbell, which is located to the right of the glass entrance doors. Please ring the bell once and take a seat. Please be patient; our staff may be working with other patients and they will attend to you as soon as they have a chance.

Opening hours

Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6.30am-11.30pm
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, 7am-8pm

Visitors are welcome to sessions once all patients have begun treatment.

Your appointment

What to do before

Your specialist or treating hospital will make your referral. Either Werribee Mercy Hospital or your current treating specialist hospital will notify you of your appointment time.

If you feel unwell before your appointment, contact your general practitioner or visit an Emergency Department.

In the event of an emergency we may contact you to change your appointment time or relocate you to another dialysis unit for your treatment.

What to bring

Please bring:

• your Medicare card
• your healthcare card or concession card (if you have one)
• your private health insurance card (if you have one and you want to use it)
• your adverse drug alert card
• any medicines you need to take while you are here
• a list of medications you are currently taking (or the boxes), including medicines you have bought without prescription, such as herbal supplements and vitamins
• your glasses, hearing aid, walking frame, walking stick or wheelchair if required
• comfortable clothes
• warm clothing, a pillow and a blanket in case you get cold during treatment
• something to keep you occupied, such as a book, magazine, tablet or laptop with headphones.

If you have a graft or fistula please ensure your sleeves are loose enough to roll up.

If you have a catheter in your chest, please wear a top that allows access.

What to expect on the day

Key instructions and facts you may want to know before your dialysis treatment:

• Please arrive about 10 minutes before your appointment time.
• Your healthcare professional will take charge of you when your chair and dialysis machine is ready.
• You will be encouraged to wash your fistula or graft site.
• You will be weighed.
• You will be shown to your chair.
• Your blood pressure and heart rate will be checked.
• Your access site will be cleaned with a cleaning solution.
• Needles will be placed in your graft or fistula to allow blood flow in and out. This may be uncomfortable at first.
• The needles are attached to tubing that connects to the dialysis machine.
• Your blood will flow through the tubing into the special filter (artificial kidney) and back into your body.
• Your session will last up to five hours.
• During treatment you can read, use a laptop or tablet, sleep, watch TV or chat with staff and other patients.
• A drink and snack(sandwich and biscuits) are provided midway through your treatment.
• Family members and friends are welcome to visit. We do prefer to limit visitor numbers for the comfort of the other patients.
• We request that all visitors wait outside until all patients have begun dialysis.
• We will ask all visitors to leave during emergencies, procedures and at the end of patients’ dialysis treatments in the interests of everyone’s safety.

More information

Contacts and emergency

Emergency contacts at this hospital

Other contacts at this hospital

Other places to get help