June 26 Newsletter

Welcome to our latest newsletter

Welcome to the first LKN newsletter of the summer!  We welcome our new LKN Lead Nurse, and report onthe Dialysis at Home Workshop. We invite you to join the newly re-named LKN Lunch and Learn and share details of the HiddenCKD Toolkit. Finally, we offer you the chance to share your thoughts in a Supportive Care survey. We hope you enjoy it.

Welcome to Gloria Munoz-Figueroa, LKN Lead Nurse

We are delighted to welcome Gloria, AKC Lead Nurse at Imperial, to the LKN team as LKN Lead Nurse.

Dialysis at Home Forum Report

We held a Dialysis at Home Strategic Forum at the Royal College of Nursing on 30 April 2026. The event brought together 86 people from across London. The purpose of the meeting was to understand how we can help more people have dialysis at home, either through peritoneal dialysis (PD) or home haemodialysis (HHD).

Following presentations to set the scene and to be reminded by Nick Palmer, patient rep, why dialysis at home is important, the afternoon used structured workshops to allow Units to plan how to make improvements across the pathway to grow their Dialysis at Home programmes.  

At the end of the afternoon, each unit shared their plans: 

• • Guy’s: improve home therapy culture, service configuration and support for late presenters.
  • Hammersmith: build workforce confidence, improve MDT education and develop home therapy navigation
  • King’s: improve recruitment and conversion, build a “home first” culture and strengthen ward and surgical pathways
  • Royal Free: reduce housing barriers, improve LCC education and strengthen nursing and technical support
  • Royal London: strengthen patient education, PD-to-HHD transitions and surgical access
  • St George’s: increase referrals into DatH from AKC, in-centre HD, transplant and PD pathways
  • St Helier: develop assisted PD, improve earlier education and reduce access gaps through the Frimley second hub

Thank you to everyone who took part and shared their ideas and experiences, including staff from all seven renal units, ICBs, industry partners (especially our event sponsors Fresanius Medical Care, and Vantive), patient representatives, and charities. 

If you would like to be involved with the work at your unit, please speak to your Dialysis at Home team.

Supportive Care Health Care Professional Confidence Survey

The LKN Supportive Care Workstream first surveyed renal health professionals about their confidence in supportive care and advanced care planning in 2019. 

Since then, they’ve created pathways, online training modules, patient information, and more. They are now redoing the survey to find out what renal health professionals’ self-rated confidence is 7 years on, and what further work is needed. 

The survey is intended for any health professional who comes into contact with stage 4-5 renal patients.  The more answers we get the better, as it will shape the work the Supportive Care Workstream does over the next 1-2 years. 

https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/t/HCPConfidence/

Closing date is 01 July 2026.  Please share widely with your colleagues.

We will be running a parallel survey for patients about their experiences of supportive care and advanced care planning in the next couple of months.

The Hidden CKD Community Toolkit:  A successful way to test for CKD in underserved populations

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects 1 in 10 people in the UK (7.2 million adults).  Diagnosed cases are expected to increase by 34% by 2040.  It is the 10th biggest killer worldwide, predicted to be the 5th leading cause of premature death by 2040.  CKD increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, hospitalisation and death. 

The Hidden CKD Outreach Programme is a way to test for kidney health in the community.  It delivers digital transformation, preventative care, and a shift to community–based care pathways, improving early detection and enabling faster access to treatment and prevention support.  

How can ICSs set up something similar that meets the needs of their local population and helps reduce inequalities?  

The recently published Hidden CKD Community Toolkit provides a starting point to do this! Co-created by the London Kidney Network, Hidden CKD team and Kidney Research UK, it outlines approaches that ICSs can use or copy.  These approaches are based on 6 core principles that were key to the success of the Hidden CKD programme.  The toolkit has already been used in different communities in Northwest London and Wales with successful results.  Use it to help set up your CKD community programme

The LKN Leadership Forum has a new name- The LKN Lunch and Learn

Since the Leadership Fora started in 2021, their remit has developed and grown. They share innovative practice and learning, and promote individual and service development to a diverse group of people with an interest in kidney disease. 

We want the name to reflect the content, so we welcome you to the new LKN Lunch and Learn.  Same great content, just a better name. 

You don’t need your screens on during most of these meetings, so bring your lunch, invite a colleague to share your screen (if not your crisps!) and sit back and learn about some of the inspiring work happening across London and beyond. 

The next meeting- CKD Modelling and Tools for Pathway Planning- is on Wednesday 17 June 1200-1300.

You will hear from Sally Thompson (Senior Healthcare Analyst, The Strategy Unit, NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support) about a modelling tool to support early identification of CKD, and from David Randall (Consultant Nephrologist, Barts Health NHS Trust) about the NEL FIND tool and Programme.

 You can join using this link 

https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/328052577685810?p=qIjlAd2I6bjVj35Z8D  

Or email lkn.londonkidneynetwork@nhs.net to find out more. 

Newly published to the website

The LKN Website training and education pages have had a refresh!  You can now find a clearer launch page here London Kidney Network Events | Dates for your diary  with easier access to videos, online training, conference posters, and more. 

The Supportive Care Workstream have completed a set of posters to encourage patients to ask their team about Advanced Care Planning.  You can find them to print for your unit here  ACP-Posters-20260518.pptx

And the HiddenCKD Toolkit, as described earlier, is here  Hidden CKD | Kidney Care UK