Kidney Care UK was proud to promote our mission to improve the quality of life for everyone with kidney disease at this year's UK Kidney Week in Bournemouth. Organised every year by the UK Kidney Association (UKKA), the event brings healthcare professionals, researchers and organisations working on kidney health together in one place.
From taking to the stage to talk about our Bloody Amazing Kidneys, to launching a report calling for greater psychosocial care for kidney patients, our team made sure kidney patients were at the centre of discussions at the event – all while sharing our delicious kidney friendly recipes and patient information with attendees.
Take a look below at what our team got up to this year.
Raising awareness about our Bloody Amazing Kidneys
On Wednesday evening, we presented our Bloody Amazing Kidneys campaign on stage. We shared with attendees how and why we developed the campaign and the results so far. Almost 200,000 people have completed our quick and easy online Kidney Health Checker and we’ve had significant interest from various NHS networks, groups, ICBs and PCNs.
Our talk also brought in expertise from outside the charity through Dr Kristen Veighey, who works as part of the Living Well partnership in Southampton and who is leading on National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded research to understand how we can better identify and manage people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in primary care.
We heard from Vicky Ashworth, Senior Network Manager for NHS England in the North West who spoke about how best secondary and primary care can work together to help turn the tide on the number of people being diagnosed at the later stages of kidney disease.
Diary of a Kidney Warrior Podcast host Dee Moore spoke candidly and passionately about the missed opportunities to diagnose her kidney disease sooner. Eight blood tests identified a decline in her kidney function, but despite this Dee was eventually diagnosed at CKD stage 4 after being admitted for hospital. She now wonders if action could have been taken sooner to slow the decline in her kidney function and avoid dialysis.
Revealing the devastating challenges stopping kidney patients from accessing psychological and social care
Kidney Care UK's Left to get on with it: The real impact of inadequate psychosocial support in kidney care report revealed that people with kidney disease are twice as likely to experience anxiety and depression, yet are often unable to access psychological and social (psychosocial) support from their medical teams.
Fiona Loud, Kidney Care UK’s Director of Policy, spoke to clinicians and other attendees about the report and the urgent need for governments, health trusts and NHS kidney teams to address the lack of psychosocial support for people with kidney disease.
The poor recognition of kidney disease translates into inadequate levels of psychosocial care and can exacerbate the difficulties people experience when confronted with kidney disease, and especially kidney failure. The message from the many people who took part in our survey is that improvement needs to start with a formal assessment of their needs, which would lead to better planning for and provision of care, developed with patients.Fiona Loud, Policy Director at Kidney Care UK
Celebrating innovation with the Kidney Care UK Donal O’Donoghue Fellowship Award
We were thrilled to present the first ever Kidney Care UK Donal O’Donoghue Fellowship Award for Best MDT Clinical Abstract to Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) Specialist Nurse Leah Torr for her paper on Structured Post-AKI Follow Up. A huge congratulations to Leah for her incredible work.
Building a community for young people with kidney disease
Holly Loughton is Head of our Young Adult Kidney Group (YAKG), a closed Facebook peer support group for kidney patients between 16 and 30. Holly’s poster for UK Kidney Week, titled “Building community for young adults with kidney disease through face to face events” won best poster in the category of Transitional and Young Adult Care.
When compared to healthy peers of the same age, many young adults with CKD have had limited opportunities to develop their independence and self confidence. This is significant because these things are important in allowing them to navigate life with a long-term condition, develop a positive self-image and have the confidence to take control of their lives beyond their diagnosis.
Holly’s poster explains how Kidney Care UK helps develop this with the Young Adult Residential Weekend, a free event for young people who have a kidney condition to try new activities, make friends, and have fun.
Sharing our delicious kidney kitchen recipes
We were on hand to serve up delicious and kidney friendly sweet treats fresh from our Kidney Kitchen. You can try the recipes yourself:
- Low-phosphate fruit scones: ideal for an occasional afternoon tea treat.
- Chocolate and nut shortbread: a wonderful way to enjoy nuts and chocolate
- Nathan Outlaw’s Cornish fairings: a tasty twist on a traditional Cornish biscuit.
Presenting our patient information to healthcare professionals
We were proud to share our PIF TICK-accredited patient information booklets with healthcare professionals from across the UK.
Our booklets are available to read online and as a downloadable file, and many can also be ordered as physical copies. We've recently published a range of booklets in an accessible "easy read" format.
Thanks to the UKKA for organising the event, and we look forward to engaging with the kidney community again next year.