Please Note:  The Waitemata DHB Renal Service is located at 122 Shakespeare Road. Please click here for a location map.

What is Renal Medicine?
Renal medicine, or nephrology, is the branch of medicine that involves the diagnosis and management of people with diseases and conditions of the kidneys.

Your kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, found at the back of your abdominal cavity, that filter out wastes and excess fluid from your blood and excrete them as urine.

Renal medicine includes the urgent care of acutely ill patients as well as those with chronic illness who require long term care. A doctor who specialises in disorders of the kidneys is called a nephrologist. Conditions seen by a nephrologist may include:

• Acute renal failure – the sudden loss of kidney function
• Chronic, or long term, renal failure – gradual worsening of kidney function
• Haematuria – blood loss in the urine
• Proteinuria – protein loss in the urine
• Kidney stones
• Chronic or frequent urinary tract infections
• Hypertension – that has not responded to antihypertensive therapy.

Many kidney disorders may be treated with medications but if kidney function starts to fail and the condition becomes severe, dialysis (using a machine to filter the blood) and later, kidney transplantation, may be required.

Veronica van der Merwe
Veronica studied at Massey in Palmerston North after arriving here from South Korea in 1994, completed her nursing training in 1980 and has since accumulated a wealth of renal nursing experience up to charge nurse level. She is passionate about building awareness and knowledge of the effects of hypertension, or high blood pressure, on health. As the Hypertension Clinical Nurse Specialist, Veronica will work alongside the doctors and consultants, provide education and information to primary care, and see patients in nurse-led clinics, giving advice and education, monitoring medications and blood results, and helping patients work toward their ideal blood pressure.
Phone: 021 443 878
Email:

Janine Mathews
Janine is the Renal Transplant Clinical Nurse Specialist. She has 19 years nursing experience, 15 of those working in renal medicine and is passionate about the field. Renal transplants for Waitemata residents will still be carried out at Auckland Hospital, but the Waitemata Renal Service will care for these transplant recipients pre- and post-operatively, which is where Janine comes in. She will carry out patient education, make sure all the necessary tests are done and that the patients meet the criteria for transplant.
Phone: 021 244 8069
Email:

Chao Cheng and Lyndsie Skelton
Chao and Lyndsie are the clinical nurses specialists. They work with patients who don’t yet need renal replacement therapy, but may do in the future. They will provide information and education so patients are prepared as well as they can be before the time comes and can make the best decisions for themselves.

Phone: 021 416 043                                      
Email:       

Phone: 021 242 9745
Email: