The theme of this years’ BRS Conference was ‘Tackling Inequalities in Kidney Care’, giving the TP-CKD programme a fantastic opportunity to showcase the work they have being doing to address this.
The conference began for us with a POP UP workshop on ‘Tools to Support Patient’s to Self- Manage’ where a brief overview of the Interventions Toolkit was given followed by a discussion on Peer Support by Eleri Woods, Nurse Consultant at Kings College Hospital, London.
The next day presentations on PREM and PAM/PROM were shared and well received generating debate about the role of the patient in their care and in planning future services.
On the final day Ron Cullen, CEO of the UK Renal Registry gave a prize presentation speech on the role of the UK Renal Registry going forward with the clear message of the patient being at the heart of its vision.
This was followed by a further presentation on the data collected on clinical support for patients self- managing which raised some interesting points – not least that in order to empower patients to take an active role in their care, barriers from within the workforce needed to be addressed as a priority.
The BRS this year was such a positive experience, partly as it is such a multidisciplinary event including all members of the renal team but also because it was evident that the TP-CKD programme’s work is central to the aim of ‘Tackling Inequalities in Kidney care’.