A HOSPITAL clinic that has helped hundreds of patients is marking its 20th anniversary.

Inverclyde Royal's renal unit opened in 1999 and now treats almost 40 people a week.

Before it opened local people suffering with kidney failure had to travel to Glasgow for dialysis.

Consultant Mr Colin Geddes joined the unit six months after it opened, although he is based in Glasgow.

He said: "I think the service has made a great difference to patients who previously had to travel to Glasgow for dialysis.

"We now have more patients on dialysis and we are seeing more older and frail people on dialysis, who wouldn't have been well enough to travel to Glasgow and would have just died."

Mr Geddes says that there are also more kidney transplants than there were 20 years ago.

But the urgent message about donation remains the same - there is always demand for a live patient to donate for the greatest chance of success.

He said: "I can't emphasise enough that the best treatment for renal is a transplant from a live patient.

"It means that we can carry out tests to make sure the kidney is healthy and the person is in good health.

"But we still receive more donations from deceased donors."

He said one of the biggest changes over the last two decades has been the way technology has helped speed things up.

Mr Geddes said: "Everyone has mobile phones, so it is much easier to contact patients and IT systems mean it is easier to keep in touch with the unit from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital."

Medical secretary Jennifer Johns has been with the unit from the very beginning and says it has been 'life-changing' for many people.

She said: "We started off with an outpatient clinic for four people, now we see up to 36 people a week."

The service started with six dialysis machines and now has 14 helping local people and patients further afield including people who live in Argyll and Bute.

Emma McIntyre, 86, from Port Glasgow, has been receiving dialysis at the hospital since the service opened.

She said: "I started at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow and then transferred here.

"It's a good service and the staff are great.

"I've always accepted that I've renal failure and that you've just got to get on with your life - it's never stopped me getting out and about.

"I used to get a taxi to Glasgow, now it's patient transport but I prefer coming here."

The great-grandmother said she was offered a transplant and talked it over with her family but decided it wasn't for her.

She said: "I have had a good quality of life but now I'm getting older and I get tired easily.

"My condition has never stopped me doing what I've wanted to do."

Dr Mun Woo, who is based at Inverclyde Royal, said: "The biggest change is that the unit has expanded and we treat more patients.

"We now see transplant patients and as a satellite unit, people have the option of coming to us, near to where they live."