NHS Supply Chain visits UK Kidney Association (UKKA) Conference in Edinburgh – Blog by Tracey Cammish

I am Tracey Cammish and I work as a Patient Safety and Clinical Intelligence Lead at NHS Supply Chain.

Myself and my colleagues, Category Manager Natalia Shchaveleva and Category Lead Carol Callister, visited UK Kidney Association (UKKA) Conference in June 2024, and we share our experiences form the conference in this blog.

NHS Supply Chain plays a pivotal role in supporting kidney disease management, in that we have a product and service framework dedicated to supporting the care provision of patients suffering from renal and kidney diseases. This includes both in centre and home-based dialysis and CRRT and plasma therapies also.

See our Useful Links section for more information on our Renal Buying Guide.

The 2024 UK Kidney Association (UKKA) conference held in Edinburgh on 11 – 13 June 2024 was a ground-breaking event that focused on connecting the fields of renal medicine with a real focus on the need for collaborative cross-specialism working between cardiology and metabolic medicine to prevent and reduce the prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). 

When we refer to the term “kidney disease” this encompasses a broad range of conditions that can lead to poor kidney function. Typically, most humans are born with two kidneys, located in the back of the body, in line with your belly button. Kidneys are each about the size of a fist and weigh about 10-12oz each.

Despite their small size, the kidneys are the expert regulators of the body, vital organs that are essential for life. Kidneys manage a multitude of functions such as secreting hormones into the bloodstream, removing toxins, waste, and excess fluid from the blood. When kidneys start to fail, the consequences can be devastating.

Most kidney diseases can be generally characterised as:

• Acute Kidney Injury (AKI)
• Chronic kidney disease (CKD)
• End-stage chronic kidney disease (esCKD).

Kidney disease is a killer disease that in its early stages, flies underneath the radar due to the frequent lack of physical symptoms or symptoms that are so innocuous people are unaware there is an issue until the condition has progressed and the window of opportunity to prevent deterioration has passed.

It is estimated that 7.19 million people in the UK have chronic kidney disease (more than 10% of the UK population) and it is estimated that by 2033 this number will have increased to 7.61 million with a cost in 2023 to the UK economy of £7.0 billion. Within that 7 billion, £6.4 billion are associated with direct costs to the NHS (over 3% of the total NHS budget). Incorporated in this £7.0 billion are productivity losses incurred by patients living with the disease and costs for transportation of patients to and from health care facilities to receive dialysis.

The Renal Association, founded in 1950, and the British Renal Society merged in April 2021 to create the The UK Kidney Association (UKKA). The sole purpose of the UKKA is dedication to supporting the whole multi-professional team in the delivery of kidney care, education and research.

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is not a condition that happens in isolation. Our Diagnostics and Capital category lead Carol Callister and Natalia Shchaveleva, Category Manager and myself, had the privilege to attend as delegates and participants in this conference and witness the coming together of experts from various disciplines to discuss the latest advancements in the prevention and treatment of CKD.

One of the highlights of the conference was the networking opportunities it provided. Connecting with other healthcare professionals, patient representative groups, researchers, and industry experts, all committed to advancing the field of renal medicine.

Links access and awareness to the United Kingdom Renal Registry (UKRR) – a national data collection system for the analysis and reporting on approximately 8,000 new patients and 67,000 existing patients on dialysis or with a kidney transplant each year, a rich source of data which we can utilise to support informing product procurement and devices that are used for securing IV cannulas are now being evolved into haemodialysis catheter-securing devices. 

Connections with the kidney federation and looking at opportunities on how NHS Supply Chain can engage patients living with kidney disease who, by all accounts, are the real experts in living with kidney disease and how their input could support and inform some of the decisions we make.