In October 2024 Kidney Care UK launched the Bloody Amazing Kidneys campaign. Since launch 170,000 people (and counting) have completed our Kidney Health Checker, with approximately half being identified as being at increased risk of developing kidney disease.
The Checker is not a diagnostic test and there is no benefit in completing it if you already have kidney disease, but we would love it if you would consider sharing the campaign and the Checker with your friends and family to help us reach even more people. We have a range of downloadable images and suggestions of what to say with them to use online and on social media.
Spreading the kidney health message, far and wide
Our posters and adverts featuring QR codes linked to the Checker have been scanned more than 2,200 times so far. People have asked to display them in shops, libraries, supermarkets, toilets, shopping centres, pubs, community centres and pharmacies (if you see one in the wild we’d love it if you could share a photo with us!).
More than 300 pieces of media coverage have been published, resulting in more than 1,000 people completing the Checker as a direct result of reading about it online or in print.
We’ve also presented the campaign at the Behavioural Science and Public Health conference and have been able to engage with several NHS groups across the UK, who are interested in (or already are) sharing the campaign across their regions.
Speaking up in Westminster and Holyrood
The campaign has led to two Early Day Motions being raised – one in Westminster and one in the Scottish Parliament. An Early Day motion (or simply a Motion in Scotland) is where a member of Parliament/member of the Scottish Parliament raises an issue to be discussed and debated. A fantastic 26 MPs supported the Westminster Early Day Motion and 32 MSPs supported the Scottish Motion. In addition, more than 5 MPs/MSPs have also shared supportive campaign materials on social media.
My Bloody Amazing Kidneys Challenge
We’ve also been inspired to develop a new fundraising challenge, My Bloody Amazing Kidneys.
If you’ve ever wanted to raise money for the charity but couldn’t find the right challenge or activity to take part in, then this is the Challenge for you! Mass knitting events, paper-crafting, and cold water swimming are just some of the challenges that people have set themselves to raise money for Kidney Care UK in celebration of our Bloody Amazing Kidneys. If you raise more than £150 you can get your own Bloody Amazing Kidneys T-shirt!
Real people, real results
We’ve spoken to some of the people who completed the Checker, and who were identified as being at increased risk. Over half (55%) of those who responded said they’d seen their GP to discuss their kidney health and been tested for CKD and were either awaiting results, had received a CKD stage 1-3 diagnosis or had received a CKD 4-5 diagnosis.
While at this stage these numbers are very small (the people we spoke to do not account for 55% of the thousands of people identified as being at increased risk), as a direct result of our campaign people have been able to understand more about their kidney health and in some cases have discovered that they have CKD, a condition they were not aware of.
Thank you all for your support in sharing the campaign over the last six months and for the support we hope you will give in future to help spread the word. This is just the start, we will be doing more in the months and years ahead to take the campaign further and reach more people to help them understand about their Bloody Amazing Kidneys.