Progress Towards a Renal National Service Framework

This page and the links from it describe the progress being made towards the establishment of the UK Department of Health’s (DoH) National Service Framework (NSF) for Renal Services in the UK.

The NKF has always campaigned for a UK wide set of standards in renal care and in 1998 it established a new body - The Kidney Alliance - whose main function was the creation of a document containing those standards. On the 23rd January 2001 the Kidney Alliance published 'End Stage Renal Failure: A Framework for Planning and Service Delivery':-

• NKF Vice Chairman Gordon Nicholas’ introductory speech given at the launch of the Report
• Executive Summary (web page)
• Click here to download PDF version of the full Kidney Alliance report and for details of how to obtain a hard copy

Following this the DoH announced (on 27 February 2001) that it would, unexpectedly, produce a NSF covering dialysis and renal transplantation:-

• Press release by Department of Health announcing drive to double numbers of kidney transplants by 2005 and Development of a Renal National Service Framework

The NKF currently has 4 members serving on the Expert Reference group advising the DoH on the content of the NSF, and has provided numerous patient witnesses to provide supporting evidence.

A conference addressed by Tim Statham (NKF Chief Executive) in May 2003 discussed the NKF's concerns from the emerging NSF with renal health professionals and DoH Officials:-

• Conference on the prospective NSF for renal care, Friday May 23 2003, at the Barbican Centre, London

The NKF Executive Committee have produced a report to encourage informed discussion and debate surrounding the publication of the Government’s Renal National Service Framework.

It is hoped that this document will assist Kidney Patient Associations, and Kidney Patients themselves, to form views about renal provision which can then be used to judge the effectiveness of the NSF when published:

• Renal Revelations (published 29 November 2003)

Part One of the Renal NSF was published on 14th January 2004. Click here for the NKF Chairman’s statement welcoming the report. And click here to view the full report (PDF, 303KB).

For further updates on the Renal NSF (including Part 2), Click Here to go to the NKF Renal NSF section of the Campagns Zone.

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