Our Refurbishments at Huthwaite Head Office: Revolutionising the Patient, Customer, and Employee Experience

As we expand our home dialysis offering, the project is a crucial part of our journey not only to enhance the services for kidney dialysis patients and employees; It will also be essential as we integrate the end-to-end operations of NxStage products, from technical service to consumer and patient relations, training, pharmacy, logistics and operations. Home dialysis is a core element of our mission at Fresenius Medical Care, as we work to create a future worth living for all kidney disease patients.

We recently caught up with Tracey O’Sullivan, Head of Patient and Customer Relations and Marie Beaumont, Head of Market Access, Health Economics and Product Management, who brought the details of the project to life and shared how the new Huthwaite head office will revolutionise the experience of all our stakeholders.

What is the story behind the refurbishments at Huthwaite?

During the pandemic, we learnt how important it is to improve work-life balance for employees.

We decided to move to a hybrid model of working that allowed us to use our resources more effectively, striving to enhance patient and customer experience as we did so. We wanted our head office to reflect and suit the new model of working, and to meet our needs as they develop and grow.

Providing high quality care to both chronic kidney disease patients and acute kidney injury patients is a collaborative effort, that requires coordination from a range of stakeholders across the healthcare system. We wanted the Huthwaite office to facilitate this cooperative process as much as possible, and to truly demonstrate the value of partnering with us.

How will the refurbishments make life easier for Fresenius Medical Care employees? 

Our new meeting space will improve the end to end employee experience - from recruitment to training, onboarding, and integration. The space will provide a hub for internal engagement, a collaborative and inspiring environment for employees to meet and socialise. 

As an inclusive employer, we support advancements in workforce education. This new space offers a learning environment that suits all our employees, empowering staff to be ‘job-ready’ when it matters. Accessing learning that suits individuals anywhere and anytime promotes an equal opportunity ethos for all. 

We want the refurbished building to work in line with our values as we provide crucial renal care and services to those who need it. At Fresenius Medical Care, we champion excellence, reliability, collaboration, and proactivity, so it is crucial that our teams work in a building they are proud to be in. 

Will the refurbishments impact the ability to provide high-quality training? 

Yes! Huthwaite will now have dedicated bespoke training facilities. This will help us deliver optimal training to multiple healthcare stakeholders from renal technicians and healthcare professionals, to therapy providers and payers.

And what about dialysis patients – how will their experience be improved? 

The refurbishments will improve the patient experience for those living with kidney disease through the expansion of our in-house technical capabilities.

As patients seek greater degrees of freedom and comfort when receiving dialysis, and the demand for home therapies grows, we have further invested in our operational infrastructure to meet this increased demand and put the patient at the heart of everything we do.

The NHS LTP (Long Term Plan) and the GIRFT (Getting It Right First Time) national programme laid out priorities to increase the prevalence of home therapies beyond a minimum of 20%, and at Fresenius Medical Care we strive to enable all providers to meet this target as quickly as possible.

This also works alongside our wider project to integrate NxStage services into the Fresenius Medical Care umbrella, which will now encompass NxStage technical operations, customer and patient relations, and logistics, ensuring equity of access to home therapies for all patients, whatever their need.

We are also engaging with the voluntary sector, such as the National Kidney Federation and the Kidney Quality Improvement Partnership, to improve patient outcomes by creating optimal renal care pathways. We are committed to locating and addressing potential gaps in service provision, and support good practice and learning. As such, our new training facility will play a crucial role in enhancing the overall learning and experience of dialysis for patients, by ensuring that they receive the highest technical facility possible.

When will the project be completed?

The reforms in Huthwaite are set to be finalised this summer. We cannot wait to see how the new head office will further enhance our delivery of a seamless end-to-end experience to all stakeholders: from our internal pharmacy, patient and customer relations, technical services, warehousing, logistics and to our colleagues, external customers and patients.

We look forward to welcoming everyone as we continue our mission to deliver the right therapy at the right time and place.