Kidney disease and transplant projects get funding boost

Peninsula Renal Network Leads Dr Wai Tse and Rachel Gair have secured nearly £300,000 of national funding from NHS Kidney Care to support patients with renal disease on behalf of the Peninsula Renal Network to improve the experience and outcomes for kidney patients at Derriford Hospital and throughout the Peninsula.

Plymouth Dialysis Unit will be one of the first in the UK to use the national Patient Decision Aid (PDA) in the care pathway for patients with Established Renal Failure (ESRF) as a result of £50,000 of funding awarded by NHS Kidney Care. The PDA is designed to support adult patients in making decisions about whether or not to have renal replacement therapy, what type of therapy to have and where to have it.

This compliments the existing project on electronic care planning where Plymouth Dialysis Unit will be one of the first in the UK to introduce this and improve patient care by facilitating communication between patients, secondary care, GPs and social care.

Rachel Gair, Renal Network Manager said: “These projects are very exciting in that they promote and enable a partnership approach to health professionals and kidney patients in making informed and considered decisions about their treatments by increasing awareness and understanding of risks and how to cope with the treatments in their daily lives.”

A new service to support young adults with kidney disease across the region as they transfer from paediatric to adult services has been developed thanks to £125,000 funding. Young adults with kidney disease often have complex physical and psycho-social needs which may be compounded by the transfer to an adult unit.

This is often difficult and these young adults are faced with isolation increasing their vulnerability and potentially resulting in risky behaviours which sometimes lead to non-adherence to treatment and may result in the failure of a kidney transplant.

Young adult clinics have been developed across the region where educational, financial, relationship and peer support is offered alongside clinical treatments.

The team have also secured funding for three years from the British Kidney Patient Association (BKPA) to employ a key worker across the region to embed and further develop this service.

Chronic kidney disease was also awarded £25,000 to support three projects in the Peninsula, including a kidney disease dashboard with 11 GP practices in Plymouth to identify patients with renal disease who should be referred to secondary care, virtual clinic in Cornwall and education in Exeter.

Funding of £25,000 was awarded for acute kidney injury which is common, harmful and treatable but can lead to significantly increased mortality, length of stay and care costs. This project will improve the safety, effectiveness and experience of care for patients.

The Southwest Transplant Centre has benefited from £14,061 funding to improve access to transplantation for kidney patients across the Peninsula. This project has looked at the barriers to listing for kidney transplant and has put in place service improvements to ensure equality of access to transplantation, improve the rates of suitable patients being listed for pre-emptive transplants and to promote access to living donation.

At the same time the patient pathway has been developed to ensure that time between referral for transplant to becoming active on the waiting list is reduced. This collaborative project includes patients referred from the Royal Devon and Exeter and the Royal Cornwall Hospital renal units.