New emergency service for kidney stones patients

A new service has been established at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to treat patients presenting as an emergency with cases of kidney stones.

The NNUH has used lithotripsy to treat kidney stones for more than 15 years but this is a brand new emergency service running three times a week.

 The first patient to be treated was Bilal Ahmad, a patient suffering with recurrent kidney stones, who has previously had to travel out of the region to receive emergency shock wave treatment.

 Mr Will Finch, Consultant Urological Surgeon, said: “This is really important news for our Norfolk stone patients. It’s emergency up front treatment for patients with ureteric stones, giving us more treatment options for this group of patients.

 “It’s a brand new service, improving the quality of service we provide for stone patients. The emergency treatment attempts to break their stones and avoids them having to have a temporary stent placed and a subsequent wait for elective surgery.”

 He added: “We’re also working with the other hospitals in the county to develop a better service for Norfolk stone patients.”