Wednesday 7 January 2009

Are you or is a relative one of the missing millions?

You, a friend or one of your relatives might be. Recognition of kidney disease has increased exponentially since publication of the NSF. Although 4% of the adult population have been identified and are registered as having CKD, this is less than half of those we know are affected.

Dr Maarten Taal (Consultant Physician at Derby City General Hospital) and Nina Whitby (interactive tools lead, NHS Choices) have worked hard toward producing a new risk assessment tool based on the NICE CKD Guideline which is now available for everyone on NHS Choices.

This tool, along with the implementation of the NICE Guideline, the revision of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (to include regular urine, albumin creatinine ratio testing and the promotion of vascular checks that include a kidney disease section to be rolled out from April 2009 should help us close that gap between the recorded and predicted prevalence allowing many more people to benefit from better management of their early kidney disease.