Diaverum Spain, for whom holiday dialysis treatment has long been an intrinsic part of its services, is at the forefront of the d.HOLIDAY booking platform’s early success since its launch in May 2022. Read on to hear from Paulina Walkowiak, Holiday Dialysis Coordinator for Diaverum Spain, about the significance of the d.HOLIDAY programme.
The roots of Diaverum Spain’s holiday dialysis treatment programme date back as far as 1978, when we began to offer this service through our clinic in Torremolinos (then known as Gambro Vacation Dialysis).
A True care-centred approach to dialysis travel
While the d.HOLIDAY booking platform has been operational for a little over four months, the number of holiday treatments booked exclusively via the platform in Spain, currently represent over 10% of the total number of treatments booked through the platform on a group level. This places Spain in the top 5 requested countries list. This early success is proof of our ability to be agile and evolve with emerging trends.
More than the online booking platform, d.HOLIDAY’s success can be attributed to Diaverum Spain’s holistic, True care-centric approach to holiday dialysis treatment. We are conscious of providing additional options to patients who may prefer to reach out through a phone call, or face-to-face conversation. Additionally, we help them shape their holidays, through our very own Travel Guide (a local version is now also available, in both English and Spanish), as well as practical advice and information. Ultimately, our objective is this; to empower all patients to live out their dreams of travel, by providing them with the right tools and information to achieve this, with the full confidence that their life-preserving treatment can continue whilst on holiday.
The present and future of dialysis travel in Spain
Thanks to Spain’s tradition as one of the world’s most fascinating holiday destinations, our clinics’ strategic locations and our well-deserved reputation for being a leading provider of life-enhancing renal care, the d.HOLIDAY programme continues to grow rapidly. The patients we welcome are a balance between local and international; just over half of our visitors are from within Spain, who choose to spend their holidays in our beautiful country. From an international perspective, we welcome many visitors from the UK, Ireland, Germany and Scandinavia, as well as other countries. Andalusia is an extremely popular destination, as are the Balearic Islands, the Valencian Community and Catalonia.
With COVID-19 and global current events having a blanket impact on the travel industry, we have inevitably felt the effects of these as well. Despite these very serious challenges, we have been seeing encouraging signs of recovery this year, as the world and indeed dialysis patients, resume traveling.
I have no doubt that our long tradition in dialysis travel, in combination with the dedication of Spain’s d.HOLIDAY team to empowering patients to live out their dreams of travel, whether locally or further afield, will be instrumental to this growth.
Paulina Walkowiak
Holiday Dialysis Coordinator, Spain