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Editorial... s we come to the end of the year of commemoration
of the 1916 rising, we are faced with international
uncertainty in our case Brexit, and further afield, the
slow halt to the European Union Project in general.
AThe Trump era is upon us and hopefully we, as
observers, will not be too affected by the economic
implications of this new world shift. The status quo is up for
examination everywhere you turn.
The people in Newstalk Radio interviewed me recently about
the costs of taxis in the HSE. They were making a big issue of
the fact that the HSE will spend 19 million euro on taxis this
year. I think they were disappointed when I predicted that half
of the sum, maybe 9 million was for haemodialysis patients
transport. It is estimated that 9 million miles a year are
consumed by haemodialysis patients on their 312 journeys for
dialysis. I wonder how many of you manage your own
transport or drive yourselves, due to frustration with the HSE
provided service? A practical rate of reimbursement rather than
an antiquated miniscule 5 cent per mile tax rebate is long
overdue. This will save the HSE cash, and offer an alternative
choice to patients but, we await the powers that be, to realise
this. We are 4 years knocking on doors about this unresolved
issue.
The good news of 2016 will be the
number ‘50+’. The amount of living
donor kidney transplants in Ireland for
2016. The ‘+’ are the extra living donor
kidney transplants made possible by the
involvement of Irish donors and
recipients in the UK paired living kidney
exchange programme. You will see an
article in this support about the annual
report of the National Kidney Transplant Dilly Little
Contents... to see the complete Report.
Service 2015 and I recommend that you go online, if you can,

I first came in contact with kidney disease in 1981 and
became a carer of a haemodialysis patient. At that time there

2 EDITORIAL
FRONT COVER
Pictured at the launch of
Radio Snowflake 2016 4 A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM
were (back row, from
left): David Baker, THE NATIONAL CHAIRMAN
Manager, Radio
Snowflake; Clidhna and 5 A MESSAGE FROM THE
Terry McElroy with their
twins, Donagh and Caoila PATIENT SUPPORT OFFICER
Harry Ward, Patricia
McKenzie and Colette
Fennelly. 6 NATIONAL KIDNEY TRANSPLANT SERVICE
(Front row, from left):
Conor and Sarah Dalton ANNUAL REPORT 2015
with baby Annabelle born
in August 2016; Tadhg 8 SPORTS ROUND-UP
McElroy, Clidhna and
Terry’s son and
Santa Claus. 10 21ST WORLD TRANSPLANT GAMES

11 SOCIAL MEDIA & COMMUNICATION

2 IKA S UPPORT W INTER 2016