LKN Winter Newsletter
Welcome to our latest newsletter
Welcome to our final newsletter of 2025. We hope you enjoy reflecting on the progress made this year, and hearing about opportunities for 2026. Have a happy and peaceful festive period.
Good-bye to Dr Rob Elias
Dr Rob Elias has been Clinical Director of the LKN since its inception and has been integral to our development and achievements. After 5 years of LKN service, he has decided to step down at the end of March. We would like to say an enormous ‘Thank you’ ahead of his departure at the end of the March 2026.
“I will step down as Clinical Director of the London Kidney Network at the end of March, after several really enjoyable years.
I am hugely grateful to have worked with so many wonderful people: our ‘core’ LKN team, the clinical leadership team, and the very many people who have contributed to collaboration, data collection, and quality improvement in endless ways.
There is a lot for us all to be proud of.
We have, now, a powerful, respected network which is well-designed to
We continue to hold people with, or at risk of, kidney disease at the heart of what we do.
The network has played an important role in developing a culture of collaboration.
I strongly believe that people with kidney disease should have the same level of attention within our systems as people with cancer. (After all, we know that the morbidity and mortality associated with end stage kidney disease is worse than many cancers.) That means a system that drives improvement because there is an awareness of the human cost of kidney failure and ways of measuring successful delivery of care.
It has been a privilege to have worked with so many people who share this sense of purpose, across so many projects.
I am very optimistic, even in the stretched and stressful world which we inhabit, that we will continue to make progress towards that aim.
I hope everyone gets a chance for some down-time over the holiday period, and very best wishes for the New Year.”
A comment from Stephen Cass, Director of the LKN:
Over 7 years ago I sought to recruit a clinician to work with me in South London to build a network that could make a really positive impact. I asked the trust renal clinical directors at the time two questions; “Would you like to be the clinical lead for the new renal network? If not you, who do you think would be the best person to ask that you would support?
The same unequivocal answer was given; Rob Elias.
With good grace and his characteristic, easy smile, Rob accepted the challenge and has proved to be the perfect choice.
We brought together the South and North London kidney communities together to form the LKN in 2021 with Rob agreeing to continue as Clinical Director.
We have achieved a great deal in our time together, working with a fantastic group of colleagues from across London and Surrey.
Rob is a vocal advocate for patients and clinicians alike, eloquently intolerant of inequalities in our midst. He is a thoughtful and reflective leader, nurturing relationships to build trust and create safe spaces where challenge is accepted.
Above all Rob is a kind leader. This goes beyond a sense of compassion, empathy and the humanity that are the hallmarks of Rob’s leadership.
I am enormously grateful for Rob’s time, energy and friendship. I am immensely proud of the network that we have grown together with so many others, and wish him well in his next adventure.
We look forward to the next phase for the LKN in an increasingly complex NHS and to working with a new Clinical Director who will bring their own approach to the role.
A Clinical Director Opportunity
We will be recruiting for a replacement for Rob early in the new year. We are looking for a senior health care professional with strong strategic leadership skills to work with us for 4 hours a week to clinically lead and direct the Network. The role requires an ability to collaborate at Unit, ICS, London and National level, and the successful candidate will be comfortable working with renal and non-renal partners. They will work closely with the LKN Programme Team, will be responsible for the leadership of the LKN Clinical Leads, and work in partnership with the LKN Nurse Lead and Multi-professional Lead.
If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Stephen Cass and look out for application details in early January. Email – Stephen.cass3@nhs.net
LKN Nurse Leader Opportunity
We are also looking to recruit to the LKN Nurse lead role in early January. The Nurse Lead will focus on nursing workforce, quality and education. They will seek to identify unwarranted variation and focus on sharing best practise and practical solutions to improving outcomes across London. The Nurse Lead will encourage nurses across all grades and experience to become involved in quality improvement.
If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Stephen Cass and look out for application details in early January. Email – Stephen.cass3@nhs.net
LKN Update
The first three quarters of the year have been extremely productive for the LKN, and none of it would have been possible without you. Thank you for all you’ve contributed in 2026.
Here’s a round-up of key highlights.
CRM (Cardiorenal metabolic Prevention):
1. We collaborated with Kidney Care UK to develop, deliver and evaluate an educational webinar programme for people with CKD stages 1-3. Reached 611 people with positive feedback, e.g. “Speaking to a human GP is nigh impossible, so being able to ask questions was helpful”. More dates coming see https://kidneycareuk.org/kidney-disease-information/know-your-kidneys/ for details
2. We are leading development of a pan-London CRM Education Framework with London ICSs and the diabetes and cardiac networks.
3. We produced CKD/CRM prevention recommendations as part of Kidney-Commissioning-Service-Delivery-Guidance-final-v1.pptx
AKC (Advanced Kidney Care)
1. We developed a multi-professional London-wide AKC pathway that includes key decision-making points and subsequent actions or interventions.
2. We surveyed health professionals working in AKC in London units to understand their confidence, education and training provided, and key areas for support.
3. We produced AKC service recommendations as part of Kidney-Commissioning-Service-Delivery-Guidance-final-v1.pptx
Dialysis:
1. We agreed an LKN Home Haemodialysis (HHD) framework to be used as a reference point for services to support consistent care delivery across London.
2. We’ve strengthened relationships with industry partners to support more collaborative and transparent working, benefiting dialysis units and enabling a more patient-centred service.
3. We’ve developed a new metric (GRIP-33) to show home therapy uptake and distance from target
Transplant:
1. We’re working with units to identify barriers and opportunities to SCORE (Sustainability and Certainty in Organ Retrieval (SCORE) – ODT Clinical – NHS Blood and Transplant) readiness ahead of expected implementation by NHSBT in January 2027
2. We’re mapping access to weight-loss medication and support service across London with the aim of minimising variation and maximising access.
Supportive Care:
1. We wrote, consulted on and published Dialysis Withdrawal Guidance (Withdrawal of Dialysis Protocol) for use across London
2. We completed a second London Supportive Care Audit and shared the results at an in-person meeting
3. We are working with the Welsh Kidney Network to develop a patient information video about supportive care
Workforce:
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We established the LKN Nursing Leadership Forum, providing a platform for each unit to share successes and learn from others across the whole kidney pathway.
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We’ve built the initial nursing workforce dataset, demonstrating different models of care across London and highlighting variation. This will help inform discussion on service delivery.
Psycho-social and Rehabilitation:
1. We’ve developed new groups for Rehabilitation and Psycho-social, with strong involvement from across professional groups and Trusts
2. We’ve created evidenced-based referral pathways to Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy and Dietetics for common symptoms in AKC in collaboration with the AKC Workstream
Data:
1. We’re reporting on London Kidney Dialysis Occupancy Measure (DOM) from all England’s renal units quarterly. Work continues with national teams, NCDR and UKRR to evolve the Kidney DOM into a national standardised reporting tool.
2. We remodelled In-centre Dialysis growth projections for 1- 3- and 10 years and used them to show ‘critical pathway’ i.e. when each unit will be above 90% KDOM threshold and hit 100% estates and/or workforce capacity
3. We’re scoped Incident New starter data within the Clinical Information Group and aim to begin reporting on this in March 2026.
Demand & Capacity:
1. We are working closely with ICBs and renal units to support decision making around ICHD infrastructure using Kidney- DOM, 10-year forecasting and local intelligence.
2. We developed Kidney commissioning and service delivery guidelines (Kidney-Commissioning-Service-Delivery-Guidance-final-v1.pptx) for London in partnership with renal clinical experts and ICB leaders
Education and Communication:
1. Our In-person sharing event (London Kidney Network Events | Dates for your diary) was attended by 120 people, featuring 30 speakers and 24 posters celebrated the success of the London Renal 3Ps Transformation Programme
2. We’ve held six LKN Leadership Fora. 471 people have joined us to hear from 22 speakers, in 6 hours of sharing and discussing achievements and progress across the kidney pathway.
Leadership Forum
Integrating CKD Care Across Systems, Wednesday 03 December
We heard brilliant presentations on three projects:
- Overview and Evaluation of the LKN & Kidney Care UK Interactive Educational Webinars for People Living with CKD Stages 1–3 (Linda Tarm, LKN CKD Co-Chair)
- NEL 3Ps Pharmacist Training Programme: Advancing Early CKD and CVD Risk Management Through Better Diagnosis, Coding, and Medicines Optimisation (Sotiris Antoniou, Divisional Director, Clinical Services Royal London Hospital NHS Trust)
- Clinical Effectiveness SEL (CESEL): Supporting the 3Ps Programme and GP Practices to Review and Act on CKD and CVD Data (Sian Howell and Sharif Yacoob, Clinical Lead & CESEL Facilitator – Clinical Effectiveness South East London)
If you weren’t able to join us and would like to watch the session, please email Nic Cunningham at nicola.cunningham14@nhs.net
You can find more information about the Know Your Kidneys Webinar here Know your Kidneys patient information event | Kidney Care UK
and the CESEL guide for professionals to manage CKD here PowerPoint Presentation
We are currently seeking your feedback about our Leadership Fora; what have we got right, what do you want more of, and what needs to change? To have your say, please complete this short survey LKN Leadership Forum Feedback 2025
Training and Webinars
The national level 1 psychosocial training is now live. It is intended to be used by anyone working with kidney patients. It is online and in short 15-30 minute modules to help you fit it in around other work commitments. Psychosocial Training for Kidney Care
Free in-person event in Aston on Severe Mental Illness and Kidney Disease Silos to Synergy Tickets, Tue 24 Feb 2026 at 09:30 | Eventbrite
Don’t forget you can find the LKN developed e-learning modules on Kidney Health Inequality here Health Inequalities in Kidney Care
And on Supportive Care and Advanced Care planning here Kidney supportive care and advanced care planning
You will be asked to register with KHP and to then enroll on the specific module. They are free to access once you’ve done that.
Did you know?
Did you know, 1 in 10 people surveyed by Kidney Care UK found out they had CKD via the NHS APP. Read more in their report https://kidneycareuk.org/news-
Recent LKN website publications
Kidney Commissioning and Service Delivery Guidance Kidney-Commissioning-Service-Delivery-Guidance-final-v1.pptx
Transplant Mutual aid guidance including patient information and referral paperwork LKN-Mutual-Aid-2.0-v.Final-2.docx
LKN Annual report 2024-25 Annual Report 2024-25 | London Kidney Network
LKN Dialysis withdrawal guidance Withdrawal of Dialysis Protocol