Policy updates

Keep up to date with the latest Kidney Care UK policy developments, including information on our latest campaigns.

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    • Campaign
    • Treatment and medication

    Kidney Care UK concerns regarding funding restrictions on dialysis away from base in some parts of Scotland

    Following Kidney Care UK’s campaign success to retain the rights of kidney patients to receive their dialysis care without payment while travelling in the EU post Brexit, we have become increasingly concerned to hear about the considerable challenges people face when trying to access dialysis away from base within the UK.

    • Campaign
    • Treatment and medication

    Prescription charges for kidney patients: have your say

    Kidney Care UK have campaigned for many years for a fairer system of prescription charging. We are now carrying out a survey to learn more about whether people on different treatments for their kidney disease pay for their prescription medicines.

    • Awareness
    • Campaign

    Representing kidney patients at the UN World Health Assembly

    Kidney Care UK was at the World Health Assembly in Geneva earlier this month to speak about the impact of kidney disease. Our Policy Director Fiona Loud discusses her experience at the event and why there's reason to be optimistic about the challenge of tackling kidney disease in the UK and around the world.

    • Campaign

    Make your voice heard in the government’s review of PIP

    The government is reviewing Personal Independence Payments (PIP), a benefit many people with kidney disease rely on to help with the additional costs of their condition. They now want to hear from people with experience of PIP to learn whether it is meeting the needs of people with long term conditions.

    • Campaign
    • Treatment and medication

    NHS Trusts told to act now to stop patients receiving unexpected diagnoses via the NHS App

    Kidney Care UK welcomes a letter from senior NHS England leaders asking NHS Trusts and integrated care boards (ICBs) to take immediate action to avoid information about people finding out about health conditions like kidney disease without the opportunity to a discussion with their healthcare professionals.

    • Awareness
    • Campaign

    Make the voice of kidney patients heard at the Scottish and Welsh elections

    On the 7th May voters across Scotland and Wales will head to the polls to elect the next Scottish and Welsh Parliaments. Kidney Care UK are calling on the next government in both devolved nations to improve care for people living with chronic kidney disease (CKD), and encouraging the kidney community to speak to their candidates directly.

    • Campaign

    Kidney patients and healthcare professionals highlight the mental and social impact of kidney disease at Scottish Parliament event

    Kidney Care UK held a roundtable event at the Scottish Parliament to highlight the mental and social (psychosocial) impact of kidney disease and urgent need for increased psychosocial support for people with CKD in Scotland.

    • Campaign

    Water bill support extended to more people on home haemodialysis

    Kidney Care UK is pleased to share that more people will become eligible for WaterSure, the scheme that can lower water bills for essential high users of water, including people on home haemodialysis, who are on a low income and receive certain benefits.

    • NHS Modern Service Framework (MSF)

    Seven million lives at risk: we need your help to design a kidney disease strategy

    Kidney Care UK is working with kidney charities to urge the government to take urgent action on kidney disease. We want to hear from everyone affected by kidney disease to help shape a strategy that can deliver real change for the kidney community.

    • Campaign

    Global declaration by the United Nations commits to tackling kidney disease alongside other noncommunicable disease and mental health

    World leaders at the United Nations General Assembly have adopted a historic global declaration to combat noncommunicable health challenges including kidney disease. This historic international advocacy for kidney disease supports the whole UK kidney community.

    • News

    Royal College of General Practitioners publishes framework to help GPs to take on an 'extended role' in kidney health

    The Royal College of General Practitioners has recently published guidance for GPs who want to take an 'extended role' in kidney health that goes beyond the standard training that all GPs receive. The framework was developed with input from Kidney Care UK, and highlights our patient information resources and Bloody Amazing Kidneys campaign.

    • Campaign

    Kidneys Under Pressure: a call for coordinated action on chronic kidney disease and high blood pressure in parliament

    On Wednesday 3 December, Kidney Care UK and Blood Pressure UK partnered to organise a parliamentary event, with the support of Dr Simon Opher, MP for Stroud. The event brought together people living with CKD and high blood pressure alongside clinical experts and parliamentarians to call for action: we need better awareness of the linked nature of these diseases, more testing and joined-up care.

    • Awareness
    • Campaign

    Kidney Care UK stands with charities calling on No.10 to take urgent action on kidney disease

    Without action, kidney disease will become the UK’s fifth leading cause of premature death by 2040.

  • Scottish Parliament debate sees cross-party recognition of the impact of chronic kidney disease

    Kidney Care UK welcomed a recent debate in the Scottish Parliament on recognising the impact of kidney disease, which saw urgent calls for action made around issues including strengthening the kidney transplant pathway an addressing the psychosocial impact of chronic kidney disease.

  • Talking kidneys in Parliament

    Kidney Care UK has released its report on the parliamentary roundtable we held in May. Prevention now: let's talk kidneys sets out clear actions for government that could help get chronic kidney disease diagnosed earlier and managed better, reducing the risk of progression on to more serious disease.

    • Awareness
    • Campaign

    Improvements recommended in diabetes and kidney care by national guidelines committee

    Kidney Care UK is pleased that the latest draft guidance on diabetes care from NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) takes the link between chronic kidney disease (CKD) seriously, and that the guidance aims to reduce the number of people with diabetes who end up with kidney problems and develop preventable kidney failure.

  • Kidney Care UK welcomes the Welsh government's programme to improve early identification and treatment of CKD

    Kidney Care UK welcomes the launch of a new two-year programme from the Welsh government aimed at improving early identification and treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD), which highlighted our research showing low levels of knowledge about CKD and its links with diabetes and heart disease.

    • Awareness
    • News
    • NHS 10 Year Health Plan for England

    Kidney Care UK's reaction to the NHS 10-year plan

    The government published the 10-year plan for the NHS in England. These are Kidney Care UK's initial views on the details we know so far.

    • Awareness
    • Campaign

    Uncovering the real impact of inadequate psychosocial support in kidney care

    A new Kidney Care UK report launched today reveals the significant social, emotional and psychological (psychosocial) toll that kidney disease has on the lives of many of those who have it.

    • Awareness
    • Campaign

    Patients, doctors and primary care professionals speak up for early CKD prevention in Parliament

    On 13 May 2025 Kidney Care UK brought people living with CKD, doctors, primary care professionals and policy makers to parliament for a roundtable meeting, hosted by Jade Botterill MP. Parliamentarians heard powerful testimony of the impact of CKD and the urgent need to improve prevention of this life-changing condition.

  • The injustice of prescription charges for kidney patients

    We’re calling on the government to review and reform the unjust and outdated prescription charging system to make prescriptions free for everyone living with a long-term condition in England, as they are in other parts of the United Kingdom.