KIDNEY patients Kathryn Allen and Keith Blakemore have been invited to turn the first sod of earth at the start of work on a dialysis centre.

The centre, at the University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton, will allow patients from North Tees, Hartlepool and parts of Durham to be treated closer to home, and the duo will help to mark the start of the building work.

Ms Allen, of Billingham, and Mr Blakemore, of Hartburn, Stockton, have been receiving treatment for two years and both currently travel to The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, three times a week for four-hour sessions of dialysis.

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust has leased land to enable the service to be brought to Stockton and the centre will be the second satellite of the area's main renal unit, at The James Cook hospital, after Darlington.

Ek Bradwell, assistant director of operations at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust, said: "We are delighted to be making land available for such a worthwhile project that will undoubtedly deliver significant benefits to local patients.

"Reducing travelling times for treatment will hopefully go a long way towards easing their distress and discomfort, and we look forward to the centre's launch next year."

The unit at The James Cook hospital currently has 135 patients attending for their dialysis treatment three times a week, and a further 69 attend the Darlington Dialysis Centre

The Stockton centre will initially treat 20 patients a week, but will expand until it is on par with the Darlington centre.

It will be a single-storey building containing 13 dialysis stations, including an isolation area, consulting and clinical facilities, and staff seminar room.

Due for completion in January, the centre is a private finance initiative scheme.