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Renal National Service Framework

Adjournment Debate titled ‘Services for kidney patients’ called for.

NKF letter to MPs who are members of the All Party Parliamentary Kidney Group

«Title» «Name»
Member of Parliament
House of Commons
London, SW1A OAA

21^st February 2005

Dear

All Party Parliamentary Kidney Group Update

As you are aware, the All Party Parliamentary Kidney Group recently held a meeting to discuss progress in tackling kidney disease. In advance of the formal minutes being circulated, I thought you would appreciate a brief update on the main outcomes.

The meeting was especially timely as it came the week after the publication of Part 2 of the Renal National Service Framework and enabled Members to be briefed by a wide variety of stakeholders, including patients, clinicians and researchers. It was clear that, when taken together, Part 1 and 2 of the Renal National Service Framework (NSF) present an encouraging opportunity to improve the services for all renal patients.

However, Parts 1 and 2 of the NSF present more of a mission statement than a detailed implementation plan. There are  few specific requirements or benchmarks against which to judge progress and this has led to a fear that kidney services will remain a low priority for too many health commissioners. The Kidney community is developing a number of initiatives that have the potential to add detail to assist commissioners translate both NSF into better services for patients, these will of course require Government and NHS buy-in if they are to be effective.

It was therefore agreed that, if we are to capitalise on the opportunity presented by the NSF, it will be important to maintain the political focus on kidney services and pressure for change, both at a national and local level. A number of constructive suggestions were made which the National Kidney Federation will take forward. It was also agreed that Parliamentary pressure would be essential and it was suggested that there was sufficient scope to stage an Adjournment Debate on the issue. Dr Evan Harris suggested that, to increase the likelihood of securing an early debate, different Members of the Group might each also wish to request a debate on the subject of:

‘Services for kidney patients’

The National Kidney Federation very much hope that you will submit a request for a debate and would of course provide you with full support and briefing if you are successful in securing a debate. Please do not hesitate to contact Mike Birtwistle on 020 7340 6204 if you would like to discuss this further.

Yours sincerely

Timothy F Statham OBE

Secretariat to the All Party Parliamentary Kidney Group