A Kidney Research UK study has proved that the Renal Services National Service Framework has had a positive impact in improving quality of care for the high-risk South Asian communities.

A recent research study, which was undertaken as part of medical research charity, Kidney Research UK’s ABLE programme, investigated the impact of national guidelines for the management of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), on referral patterns between South Asian and white European patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

With support from The Big Lottery Fund, the ‘Patient Pathway’ study commenced in 2006 and examined referral patterns to hospital-based diabetes and nephrology services across three sites, in London, Luton and Leicester. The plan was also to identify cultural beliefs and practices relevant to diabetes and diabetic renal disease self-management and assess how South Asian patients with diabetes accessed local healthcare services, and what their health outcomes and experience were.

In the UK, South Asian patients with T2DM are over 10 times more likely to progress to end stage renal disease (ESRD) than White European patients. Furthermore, T2DM is 4 times more prevalent in South Asian patients than White Europeans.

The study has shown that the implementation of guidelines has successfully highlighted ethnicity as a risk factor for progression from T2DM to ESRD. In addition, researchers found no evidence that delayed referral to secondary care or decreased prescription of protective medications accounts for the increase in progression to ESRD amongst South Asians with T2DM in the UK.

It concluded that overall, national CKD management guidelines have led to a reduction in the number of patients with T2DM seen in specialist renal services.

Professor Gurch Randhawa, lead investigator for the study, commented: “These results are very exciting as we now have evidence to prove that the Renal Services National Service Framework has had a positive impact in improving quality of care for the high-risk South Asian communities.”

The study was carried out by: Matt Hall1, Emma Wilkinson2, Shahid Chadna3, Peter Choi4, Ken Farrington3, Andrew Frankel4, Roger Greenwood3, Liz Lightstone4, Paul Roderick5, Joanna Willis4, John Feehally1, Gurch Randhawa2

1 John Walls Renal Unit, Leicester General Hospital, Leicester, UK; 2 University of Bedfordshire, Luton, UK; 3 East and North Herts NHS Trust, Stevenage, UK; 4 Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, West London, UK; 5 Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK

To view a poster with full details of the study, which was presented in 2009, click here.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
ABLE - “A Better Life through Education and empowerment” - is a flagship innovative programme of thirteen research studies and awareness projects co-ordinated by Kidney Research UK, that started back in 2001. The Charity has successfully raised over £1.5 million for the ABLE programme and is starting to make a difference through the various projects. ABLE doesn’t just focus on the preventative or early stages of kidney disease but addresses the full spectrum of the kidney disease pathway including organ donation and end of life care.

Right now, over three million people in the UK are under threat from chronic kidney disease. Kidney Research UK’s mission is for a world free from kidney disease and has £9 million pounds invested, at any one time, into research which focuses on the prevention, treatment and management of kidney disease.

A key part of the strategic growth of the Charity is dependent on support received from an increasing number of local and national corporate partners, pharmaceutical companies, other research institutions and charities, charitable trusts, individual donors and other funding bodies including the Government.

A number of partnership opportunities have been developed over recent years which allow 'like-minded' organisations, to work together in order to meet clear patient needs now, and in the future, and to develop improved patient treatment programmes.
Kidney Research UK prides itself on the outcomes of the partnerships already achieved and are keen to develop this area further in order to seek new opportunities to help combat kidney disease. The Charity would welcome opportunities to explore areas of possible mutual interest. Please contact us if via our website you would like to find out more.
www.kidneyresearchuk.org