Introduction
We, as a kidney community of patients, healthcare professionals and industry partners recognise the environmental damage associated with the delivery of kidney care and our responsibility to future patients to leave resilient and sustainable services on a liveable planet.
The Sustainable Kidney Care committee has been set up as a partnership between the UKKA, the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition and the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, to radically reduce this damage, with high level targets now established for both decarbonization and the reduction of other environmental impacts of UK kidney care (see figure 1).
Figure 1. High level targets
These targets are to be achieved through the work of three separate workstreams and with annualised goals.
Kidney Unit Sustainability Champions Scheme
Would you like to be your unit's sustainability champion?
Help us to work collaboratively to meet our targets listed above, improve dissemination of best practice and be a sustainability point of contact for your renal centre. Open to all staff from any discipline.
You can find further information and sign up here: Kidney Unit Sustainability Champion Scheme | Sustainable Healthcare Networks Hub
If you're interested in networking with others involved in sustainable kidney care, please visit the Kidney Care Sustainability Network: About Kidney Care Sustainability Network | Sustainable Healthcare Networks Hub
Atlas of Variation
June 2025 goals
• Agree the criteria we are auditing against (aligned across 4 nations)
• Develop simple infrastructure for collecting and storing data
• In discussion, develop the infrastructure and partnership with UKKA/UKKR to disseminate and share data in a meaningful way – potential use of geographical map of variation
• Begin populating the atlas with pilot: 50 sites complete survey by end Q2 2025
ISN GREEN-K - Global Environmental Evolution in Nephrology and Kidney Care
GREEN-K Global Environmental Evolution in Nephrology and Kidney Care calls on the development of climate resilient kidney care systems that function through accountable, sustainable low carbon health care, and propose a pathway to achieve this goal through a global, collaborative, and inclusive multidisciplinary working group. The ‘GREEN-K’ initiative has a vision of ‘Sustainable kidney care for a healthy planet and healthy kidneys’, and mission to ‘Promote and support environmentally sustainable and resilient kidney care globally through advocacy, education, and collaboration’.
This initiative will be inclusive and global, focusing on collaborative action to develop a coordinated plan to achieve low carbon kidney services across our spectrum of care. Suren Kanagasundaram (Clinical co-chair) and Mark Harber (Workstream lead) sit on the steering committee for this important piece of work. More information can be found here.
Resources
12 Steps to Green a Kidney Unit - full version - June 2023 | Sustainable Healthcare Networks Hub
12 things we can do as individuals to become greener | Sustainable Healthcare Networks Hub
Sustainable Healthcare Coalition – Newcastle Hospitals in-centre haemodialysis carbon calculator
Real Zero Holborn Declaration for sustainable conferencing
Sustainable Kidney Care webinars
18th October 2023 - This insightful and timely webinar, hosted by Shazia Adalat and Suren Kanagasundaram, looks into the latest plans and developments across the kidney care community to help drive and promote sustainability. Topics included incorporating sustainability into the Renal Service Transformation Plan and a multi-professional panel discussion of developments in sustainable kidney care. Please click here to watch the webinar.
2021 - This webinar includes presentations on IPCC and COP26: what happens now? Transitioning to a sustainable NHS and a brief history of Green Nephrology, carbon literacy and the triple bottom line. Presenters include James Dixon, Manraj Phull, Andy Connor and Frances Mortimer. Please click here to watch the webinar.
Sustainable and plant based diets
A new presentation on Sustainable Diets in CDS, produced by the Chair of the BDA Renal Nutrition Group, Angeline Taylor, is now available here. Other resources are available on plant-based diets:
Eating a plant-based diet with a kidney transplant
Eating a plant-based diet with CKD
Eating a plant-based diet when having dialysis
Other resources
Developing a human-centred national Heat Resilience Strategy
The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change - Policy Brief for the UK
The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change - Data Sheet 2023
The Climate and Us - The Global Climate and Health Alliance
No-fly Nephrology pledge
We, in the Sustainable Kidney Care programme, are examining all areas of environmental impact within our practice and this includes our need to fly for conferences and other work events. Air travel to a single international conference can generate more carbon emissions in that one trip than the average person emits over the course of a whole year in dozens of countries. We are committed to exploring new models of learning and sharing that allow our specialty to develop whilst reducing the harm to our planet.
With this is in mind, a number of kidney care specialists are making personal, No Fly pledges for 2024 for academic and work reasons. You can find out who's already made this pledge through this link.
#NoFlyNephrology2024
#FlightFreeWork
#FlightFreeScience
#FlightFreeLearning
Use the UKKA's RouteZero - Travel Sustainably link to find a low carbon journey - https://routezero.world/ukka
Membership
Suren Kanagasundaram (Clinical co-chair & Workstream 2 lead)
Gloria Munoz-Figueroa (MPT co-chair & Workstream 1)
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Frances Mortimer (The Medical Director of the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, Workstream 1 lead, co-lead, Atlas of Variation project)
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Rosa Montero (Consultant Nephrologist and Workstream 4 lead)
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Keith Moore (Sustainable Healthcare Coalition)
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Fiona Adshead (Chair, Sustainable Healthcare Coalition)
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Ron Cullen (UK Renal Registry)
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Eleanor Murray (Renal Consultant, co-lead, Atlas of Variation project)
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Stephen Palmer (Renal technologist - link to the ART)
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Keith Channing (Renal technology - link to the ART)
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Mark Harber (Consultant nephrologist, Workstream 1 lead)
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Mark Wright (Consultant Nephrologist & Renal Networks Liaison)
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Manraj Phull (Greener NHS representation)
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Shazia Adalat (Paediatric nephrologist - link to BAPN)
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Jo Pywell (UK Kidney Research Consortium)
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Angeline Taylor (Renal dietitian - link to Renal Nutrition Specialist Group)
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Lucy Brown (Sustainable Healthcare Delivery Lead/AHP Lead)
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Oliver Thomas (Renal SpR rep)
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Rona Grieve - (Scottish nursing rep)
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Fiona McFadyen - (Scottish nursing rep)
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Claire McGuire - (English nursing rep)
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Andrea Brown - (Chief Executive, National Kidney Federation)
- Retha Steenkamp - (Head of Operations, UK Renal Registry)
- Paul Clarke - (Senior Specialist Renal Pharmacist, Chair Elect - Renal Pharmacy Group)
Workstreams
Workstream 1 - Action, Learning and Education
The aim of the Action Learning and Education work stream is to inspire and empower members of the kidney care community to take action for sustainability. Building on previous successes we will apply a two-pronged approach:
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creating a community of practice and support via the Sustainable Kidney Care Network Sustainable Kidney Care | CSH Networks (sustainablehealthcare.org.uk)
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equipping staff through education and training to improve sustainability of their services through signposting/developing training for different staff groups and integrating into existing curricula and training
June 2025 goal - 50 ‘active’ champions across all UK kidney sites (main or satellite units). ‘Active’ is defined as:
o Submitting data to benchmarking audit
o Completed CSH free online self-study course
o Participating in network: e.g. attendance at at least 1 network event +/- posting
o Network goals: 750 membership, 10 number of events, 20 attending each event
o Education stats: 50 UK kidney staff completing online course
The multidisciplinary group includes members from a wide range of kidney care professions spanning teams from South East England through to Scotland and Wales. Anyone interested in joining please contact Dr Frances Mortimer, Medical Director, Centre for Sustainable Healthcare Frances.mortimer@sustainablehealthcare.org.uk
Workstream leads:
Frances Mortimer The Medical Director of the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare
Mark Harber Consultant Nephrologist, Royal Free
Members:
Stephen Palmer Renal technologist, York Hospital
Eleanor Murray Clinical Research Fellow, Glasgow
Emily Horwill Renal pharmacist, Sandwell & West Birmingham
Nina Brown Consultant Nephrologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer, Salford Royal Foundation Trust
Rosa Montero Consultant Nephrologist, St George's University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
John Stoves Consultant in Nephrology and General Medicine and Renal Clinical Lead
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Rona Hutton Renal Practice Development Nurse, Scotland
Jessica Notzing Intensive Care and Renal Trainee, Wales
Ali Lawrence Patient Ambassador
Gloria Munoz-Figueroa Programme Manager, Renal Development Programme, St George's, Epsom and St Helier
Workstream 2 - Procurement, Infrastructure and Innovation
This workstream is the key interface with the wider supply chain, where the bulk of kidney care carbon emissions, reside, and has now been subsumed into the global GREEN-K initiative’s procurement workstream (co-led by Dr Suren Kanagasundaram). Find out more about GREEN-K through the link, above.
June 2025 goal – Finalise and disseminate a global, generic joint statement of demand of industry for kidney care products and services, covering decarbonisation, circularity and other, defined domains.
Workstream 3 - Sustainable Kidney Care Pathways
This workstream is embedding environmental sustainability within kidney care pathways, including relevant clinical standards and guidelines
Workstream 4 - Climate Resilience
This workstream aims to embed climate resilience into UK kidney care services and facilities, and in the supply chains we rely on, and will become increasingly important as the climate crisis worsens. The UKKA SKC programme is a member of the LIFE-RESYSTAL scaling network that seeks to build climate resilience across European health systems and share best practice (further information can be found, here: https://life-resystal.eu/ )
Workstream lead: Rosa Montero
