A BRAND new £750,000 renal dialysis clinic - which would stop kidney patients having to travel to Portsmouth for life-saving treatment - could be built at Chandler's Ford.

Gambro Hospal Ltd, part of an international company which provides renal services throughout the UK and Europe, has applied to Eastleigh Council for planning permission to convert an empty unit at Renown Close on the Chandler's Ford Industrial Estate.

The 18-bed clinic would provide treatment for more than 72 patients a week.

The facility would create about 15 jobs and would be used by NHS patients.

Kidney patient Kevin Green, pictured, said it would be a "godsend".

Mr Green, 57, who is now unable to work, started dialysis treatment at Portsmouth just before last Christmas after suffering acute renal failure. Without it he would be dead in two weeks.

Welcoming news of moves to build a clinic closer to his home, he said: "It would be a lot better for me.

"Don't get me wrong, Pompey is brilliant - the staff, the team and the treatment are brilliant. But the problem is getting to the hospital and getting home again.

"We have to rely on patient transport - there is no way I could afford transport off my own bat. If I could go to Chandler's Ford I could get a bus back and be home in half an hour."

Mr Green, of Suffolk Drive, Chandler's Ford, explained that kidney patients often felt unwell after treatment but had to wait for patient transport home.

He added: "A clinic at Chandler's Ford would be a godsend. I would miss all the people down at Portsmouth - the nurses and doctors - because the treatment is so good.

"But one at Chandler's Ford would be handy for all of us who live 20-odd miles from Portsmouth."

The chairman of the Wessex Kidney Patients Association, David Griffen, added: "Kidney patients do have a problem inasmuch as the renal unit at Portsmouth serves a huge area and it does mean travelling, which is very stressful for a sick person.

"They need totravel three times a week, so satellite clinics are enormously helpful to people who live on the fringes."

Mr Griffen said he was aware of the proposal for Chandler's Ford and added: "It will be of great benefit to people living in that surrounding area. These are the sort of things we are looking for."

But besides getting planning permission, the Gambro project would also be subject to Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust awarding the company the contract to provide the facilities.

A trust spokesman told the Daily Echo: "We are currently in the process of tendering for the provision of a satellite dialysis unit in the Eastleigh/north Southampton area.

"At present, no contract has been awarded and we are still in the process of looking at the tenders received."

John Hempton, Gambro Hospal's agent for the Chandler's Ford scheme, said the new clinic could be up and running within six months from the time the company took possession of the building.

He added: "We have done several of these clinics around the country and they have made a huge difference to the lives of these people because they just don't have to travel so far."