Kidney Research UK
Our Vision – A world free from kidney disease.
Our Mission – To fund life-saving research into kidney disease, improve the quality of life of those with kidney disorders and increase public awareness of kidney health.
Showcase
Tony Ward is a renal patient, transplanted in 2005 with a kidney donated by his brother. He was a member of Kidney Research UK's Patient Advisory Group for 3 years, and has been an invaluable source of help in producing the DVD series “Living with Kidney Disease”. He is currently a member of the Patient Empowerment Expert Group for the Quality Improvements in Chronic Kidney Disease Study. He and his wife Bridget are actively involved in fundraising for the Charity and raising awareness of the UK organ donor register, through organising and participating in a number of high profile and physically demanding challenges.
Tony sees his role as “sharing experiences of being on the receiving end of NHS treatment,” and says he's “there to challenge assumptions and share the practicalities of living with kidney disease, to ensure that any solutions are well balanced and practical to implement.”
Tony recently experienced trying to get blood tests within the NHS, and highlighted the difficulty of getting an appointment and obtaining the results to demonstrate how systems and procedures within the NHS can be hard to overcome even for ‘an experienced' patient like him.
Priorities
Research dedicated to improving the understanding of kidney disease and its associated conditions - their causes, prevention and treatment.
Raising awareness of kidney disease.
Early detection, slowing progression of kidney disease, and the prevention of kidney failure.
Addressing health inequalities, and ensuring an integrated and consistent approach to the treatment and understanding of kidney disease.
Working in partnership– for example with the Cardio and Vascular Coalition, the Department of Health, and patients.