February News
Welcome to our first newsletter of 2024.
We have lots to share this month. We invite you to sign up to some of the events we have coming up over the next couple of months and to look out for how we responded to your feedback on the Leadership Forum. We hear from CKD Prevention Clinical co-Chair, Linda Tarm, and introduce you to two new team members, Sarah and Joyce. We focus on the work of the Supportive Care Workstream and show you where you can find their resources.
Meet the Team
This month, we spoke to Linda Tarm, Clinical Co-Chair of the LKN CKD Prevention Workstream.
Linda Tarm
Clinical Co-Chair of the LKN CKD Prevention Workstream
London Kidney Network
Tell us a bit about yourself I qualified as a Dietitian in New Zealand. Prior to joining the LKN, I led the Guy’s & St Thomas’ Renal Dietetic Service and am particularly interested in preventative care and improving patient outcomes.
What’s your role in the LKN? I provide strategic oversight and leadership to ensure the workstream is on track to achieve its aims, which includes supporting primary care to optimise early identification, coding and management of CKD.
What do you enjoy about working with the LKN? I enjoy the collaborative working environment and working closely with diverse multi-professionals and patients. It’s exciting and rewarding to be part of opportunities that can make a positive impact on peoples’ lives and entire communities or populations. I also love that my role also allows me to constantly learn and grow, and build meaningful relationships.
What is your advice to other AHPs who might be interested in taking on a non-traditional role?
- Seize every opportunity for personal growth.
- Recognise the transferable skills you’ve gained in your clinical role. They are highly valued in different settings.
- Moving to a non-traditional role may come with a learning curve. Be ready to embrace this and seek support where necessary.
- Set realistic expectations, be adaptable and enjoy the journey!
New Starters
We’d like to welcome Sarh-Louise Harwood to the LKN Team! Sarah joins us from Diabetes UK as our PPE (Patient and Public Engagement) Lead. She has a wealth of experience and we’re excited to have her working with us. Expect to hear more about her plans soon!
Leadership Forum
You said, We did
Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to our Leadership Forum feedback questionnaire shortly before Christmas. You can find the full report here.
Focus on: Supportive Care
Supportive Care ensures that people with kidney disease who are older and frailer get care that is as good as those who are younger and fitter.
Over the last year, the Supportive Care Workstream have been working hard to develop resources to support those working in kidney care, GPs and patients to better understand and improve Supportive Care services. They held an audit day in December, which was the culmulation of many people’s hard work and perseverance.
The Team created an agreed data set and then audited within each Trust to allow bench-marking across London. This was the first time an audit of a full set of supportive care metrics has been attempted in London.
The audit presentations gave lots of food for thought, and the information shared and gathered will be central to the Group’s plans for coming year. They will also be working collaboratively the the ICS Renal 3Ps frailty and supportive care projects. Thank you to everyone who’s been involved so far. If you’d like to get involved, please contact us at lkn.londonkidneynetwork@nhs.
You can also find all these links on the Supportive Care Workstream page of our website, https://londonkidneynetwork.
Events/Coming Soon
In this section, we share information about events and education opportunities either that we’re hosting, or that we think you might be interested in. If you’ve got an event you’d like to promote, contact us with the details and we’ll do our best to share it.
19 February ‘Working with independent providers to deliver In-Centre Haemodialysis is London
Please sign up for this in-person meeting at Waterloo, here: Working with independent providers
26 February Leadership Forum ‘Working with patients who have a learning disability’
Please follow the link to this online forum: Teams Meeting
14 March ‘LKN Transplant Collaborative Workshop’
Please sign up for this in-person workshop afternoon at Royal College of Nurses here
20 March ‘LKN Vascular Access Education and Workshop half day’ This in-person half day session is aimed specifically at nurses who want to learn more about best practice in vascular access and how they can improve their day-to-day practice. Places are limited to 40. Sign up here
27 March ‘LKN Sharing and Engagement Event’
If you want to hear more about the progress and achievements in kidney care in London over the last year, join us to hear from experts and leaders from across London and beyond. We’ll learn about work in Health Equity, Supportive Care, CKD Prevention, Transplant, Patient Engagement, Home Therapies, Data, and more. This half day event will be held at the Royal College of Nurses
Coming Soon
March 14 is World Kidney Day! You can find details here https://www.worldkidneyday.
If you are holding an event in your unit, and you want others to know, get in touch with us by Monday 26 February, and we’ll add it to the March newsletter.
“There are nearly 400 Black patients in London with CKD our aim is to ensure every single Black patient pre/ and on dialysis hears about the WKD concert as it could literally transform their life!
Although WKD is on the 14 of March, we have changed the date to the 17 to allow all dialysis patients to attend.”
