Correspondence from the Devolved Governments

Response from English Government

Dear Mrs Brown,

Thank you for your correspondence of 11 March about home dialysis. I have been asked to reply and I hope you will accept my sincere apologies for the long delay in doing so.

I would first like to reassure you that the Government is committed to supporting people living with chronic kidney disease and increasing the provision of home dialysis remains a priority, as part of the elective recovery agenda.

The Government acknowledges that home dialysis has the potential to deliver significant benefits in terms of patient experience and outcomes, giving patients both flexibility and autonomy in their treatment. The Government commends the efforts of the All-Party Parliamentary Kidney Group and others within the renal community for continued work to champion increasing access to at-home dialysis treatment.

To increase the provision of home dialysis the department is working closely with NHS England to implement the Renal Services Transformation Programme (RSTP). As set out in the National Kidney Federation’s report referenced in your correspondence, one of the key strategic priorities of the RSTP is to increase the provision and accessibility of home dialysis treatment for chronic kidney disease patients. In support of this, NHS England has set up eleven renal clinical networks who are working to determine local priorities, working closely with integrated care systems (ICSs).

RSTP is developing a range of products to support delivery and implementation that will aid transformation, including a best practice toolkit and a data dashboard outlining key metrics to support better decision making. Providers of renal services, ICSs and regional commissioners will continue to monitor uptake of home dialysis via the UK Renal Registry and NHS England Renal datasets. The RSTP deliverables are being developed in collaboration with patient groups, clinical and non-clinical colleagues, and are due to be released by April 2023.

The Transformation Programme has also appointed a National Clinical Advisor specifically for dialysis care to develop and share best practice. The Programme will provide recommendations to all renal services to support achieving the 20 per cent home dialysis prevalent rate per provider, as recommended in the September 2021 Getting it Right First Time National Report on Renal Medicine. The national transformation team is in the process of sharing a national data pack with clinical networks that will prompt them to carry out further reviews.

The Government knows that by investing in home dialysis, local systems will be able to deliver better experience and outcomes for patients and reduce their spend on patient transport to dialysis centres in hospitals. To further support healthcare professionals and commissioners, there is also a range of guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) available for commissioners and clinicians to support patients’ access to home dialysis treatments, when appropriate for the individual.

I hope this response is helpful to yourself and the All-Party Parliamentary Kidney Group and reassures you that the Government continues to take action in this important area.

Yours sincerely,

C Winters

Ministerial Correspondence and Public Enquiries Department of Health and Social Care