6 Stanley Street
Worksop
Nottinghamshire
S81 7HX
Tel: 01909 487795
Fax: 01909 481723
Email: nkf@kidney.org.uk
23 April 2003
To: House of Commons Health Select Committee enquiry into OBESITY in the UK
Sirs,
The National Kidney Federation is a renal charity run by kidney patients, for kidney patients. Currently there are 34,000 patients suffering ESRF (End Stage Renal Failure) in the united Kingdom and receiving some form of Renal Replacement Therapy (This is either Dialysis or Kidney Transplant). This Charity (charity number 278616) represents all UK Kidney patients and is a Federation of 68 smaller kidney charities. Without renal replacement therapy our patients die within days or weeks. Renal replacement therapy is expensive – Dialysis is estimated to cost £36,000 per annum per patient. Transplant costs can be lower or higher dependent on the longevity of the renal graft.
It is already accepted by those preparing the awaited renal National Service Framework, that the numbers of patients suffering ESRF will double in ten years time, however the National Kidney Federation believes that these figures conceal a further 100,000 patients either with some form of kidney disease or likely to suffer Kidney disease as a result of being diabetic or obese. Faced with this overwhelming number of potential ESRF patients requiring renal replacement therapy we believe dramatic and effective early detection and prevention must be embarked upon before renal services in the UK are totally overwhelmed in terms of capacity and financial resource.
We ask that this enquiry into Obesity fully recognise the serious implication on renal services and patient numbers that will result if current trends towards obesity in the United Kingdom go unchecked, and that immediate action is taken to identify and treat obese patients before they damage their kidneys irreversibly and become ESRF patients
Yours sincerely
Timothy F Statham OBE
Chief Executive
National Kidney Federation
The National Kidney Federation cannot accept responsibility for the views expressed by others in these letters pages.
Page created: 6 January 2004
Last updated: 8 February 2008
This website is intended for UK residents only.
If you have any comments about this site, please EMAIL the webmaster
