NHS Tayside is appealing for kidney transplant patients or people who have experience of dialysis treatment to volunteer to help others facing the same experiences.
The health authority is seeking more volunteers to join the Renal Buddy service which helps newly-diagnosed and pre-dialysis patients.
The service, which began last year, is a peer support service offering patient-to-patient advice and support.
That support can simply be meeting up at the hospital, talking on the telephone or corresponding by Email, depending on what is best for both the patient and buddy.
All buddies have experience of dialysis and/or transplant themselves and are able to talk about their own experiences and offer practical advice on how to balance kidney treatment with family life, work and social activities.
The service is going from strength to strength, resulting in more volunteers being needed.
Volunteers undertake training to hear what would be expected of them in their role and to get the latest information on renal treatments.
Each patient is carefully matched with a volunteer buddy by age, gender and family life.
Buddy service coordinator Karen Wood is the link between buddy and patient and will arrange meetings and any contact.
For more information on becoming a buddy call 01382 740229 or 07762 449902 (Monday to Thursday 4pm-8pm, Friday 9am-5pm) or Email.