From the End of Life Care in Advanced Kidney Disease - A Framework for Implementation, published by the National End of Life Care Programme, "There are about 44,000 people on Renal Replacement Therapy in the UK, over half of whom are on dialysis. The median age of those starting dialysis is 65 years. More than half have one or more co-morbidity. Hence, mortality is high. The expected remaining life years of someone receiving dialysis in the age group 65-69 years is only 3.9 years compared with 17.2 years for an age-matched person in the general population. Around 15% of people with advanced kidney failure opt not to undergo dialysis. These tend to be older, more dependent, and have more co-morbidities than those starting dialysis. Their survival is less, though may not differ significantly from that of those receiving dialysis with similar levels of comorbidity and dependency".
This framework is an important step in ensuring that people with advanced kidney disease receive the very best care in the last years, months and days of their lives. It is about enabling people to achieve high quality end of life care, rather than ‘telling them what to do’. To achieve this, it explores the ‘kidney specific’ issues of end of life care focusing on patients opting for conservative kidney management and those “deteriorating despite” dialysis.
(NHS National End of Life Care Programme, 3 June 2009)
The Renal of the Department of Health website provides documents and guidance for professionals working in the prevention and treatment of kidney disorders. It includes the Renal National Service framework
(Department of Health)
