Today, Andy Burnham has been sworn in as the UK's new Prime Minister, following Sir Keir Starmer's resignation earlier this month.

As we welcome the MP for Makerfield to his new position, Kidney Care UK is taking the opportunity to address the new Prime Minister directly, on behalf of the 7.2 million people living with chronic kidney disease in the UK.

We have sent the letter below to 10 Downing Street, and we are sharing it on all our social media platforms. We would love you share it with your friends, family and community.

Dear Andy,

Congratulations on your new role. Over the past few months you’ve told us that you want to do politics differently and be level with the public. In return, we’d like to level with you – kidney disease is serious, affects 1 in 10 of us and there is no cure. If no action is taken kidney disease will be the fifth most common cause of early death by 2040. You have the power to change this – will you stand with us and work together with the kidney community to reduce harm?

We need action on:

• Screening for those most at risk of developing kidney disease so people can be diagnosed and treated sooner, with simple blood and urine tests in the community and better blood pressure management. More than one million people in the UK are living with kidney disease right now and don’t even know it. We also now have more treatments to delay kidney disease, but not everyone who could benefit is getting them.
• Planning for how the health service will handle increasing demand in line with an increasing number of people reaching kidney failure and needing dialysis. As noted in the recently published Cardiovascular disease (CVD) modern service framework, we face ‘an increasing tsunami of high-cost interventions, including dialysis’.
• Reducing the transplant waiting list and removing the inequalities and variation in waiting times. It is currently the longest it has ever been and every single day someone dies waiting for the call.
• Improving the benefits system wherever you live in the UK so that people with kidney disease can live and work when they are able to and with dignity. Only around 26% of people on dialysis are able to work full time, and many need support but are unable to get it.
• Creating a national kidney strategy. Uniting together we have the chance to change the future and reduce the number of people reaching kidney failure, thereby reducing the need for dialysis and transplantation.

Our #BloodyAmazingKidneys campaign has demonstrated that people really want to know more about their kidney health. So let’s get started, we don’t have time to waste, and we stand here ready to work with you and your new cabinet to ensure no one has to face kidney failure alone.

Thank you,

Kidney Care UK (writing on behalf of the 7.2 million people with kidney disease in the UK)