As the leading kidney research charity in the UK, nothing is going to stop us in our urgent mission to end kidney disease. We’re here to be heard, to make a difference, to change the future. This is a disease that ruins and destroys lives. It must be stopped.
Over the past 60 years, our research has made an impact. But kidney failure is rising, as are the factors contributing to it, such as diabetes and obesity.
Today, we are more essential than ever.
There are around 3.5 million people living with kidney disease in the UK, treatments can be gruelling and currently there is no cure. Only research will end this and nobody can do it but us, by offering kidney patients and their families hope for the future. We’re taking it on. But we can’t do it without you.
Our ambition
BIGGER, faster and bolder than ever before, and grounded in the hopes and needs of the kidney community. With your help we can protect kidney health and give people the power to live life better with kidney disease.
Our vision
The day when everyone lives free from kidney disease.
Our purpose
- Prevent kidney disease by finding ways to see it coming and stop it happening.
- Protect people from reaching kidney failure by learning how to spot disease early, halting disease progression, and repairing kidney damage.
- Treat: Transform treatments by making dialysis more tolerable and making transplants last longer until better alternatives are available.
Our strategy
Bigger. Faster. Bolder. To free lives from kidney disease.
Read our strategy to find out how we will achieve our mission and strategic outcomes.
Leading transformation in kidney health
Worldwide, around one in 10 people have chronic kidney disease, for which there is no cure. Here in the UK, 20 people develop kidney failure each day, and 30,000 are reliant on dialysis to stay alive.
Six people every week die while on the waiting list for a kidney transplant.
Over the past decade some progress has been made in treating kidney disease, but not nearly enough. Kidney disease continues to rise, and history is repeating itself, with successive generations experiencing the same life-limiting health problems and inadequate treatments.
Enough is enough.
The time has come for change. Alongside everyone living with, affected by, or at risk of kidney disease, we will lead that change. Over the next ten years we will drive a revolution in kidney health. We’ll do this by working with others to put it on the UK’s health agenda. We’ll drive research and see it through so that discoveries quickly translate into life-changing advances. We’ll be responsive; adapting to changes in the landscape that affect kidney health.
Our values:
Our actions for the next decade:
- Accelerate discoveries. We’ll fund, prompt and pave the way for a step-change in the research effort, to deliver major advances in our fundamental understanding of kidney health and disease.
- Make it count. We’ll make sure discoveries are put into practice, so that advances in research rapidly make a difference to people with or at risk of kidney disease.
- Rally together for change. We will not stop until kidney disease is treated with the urgency it demands. We’ll bring people together and lead a revolution to improve the UK’s kidney health.
To deliver these actions, we need to be at the top of our game. We have a strategic programme to transform the organisation and strive for excellence in everything we do.
Our impact:
Our actions will help to change the future for people living with and at risk of kidney disease, so that by 2030 there will be:
- Better awareness. More people, particularly those in at risk groups, know how to look after their kidney health.
- Earlier diagnosis. We’ll have new ways to detect kidney disease earlier so that people get treatment before irreversible damage is done.
- New treatments. There will be new ways to slow disease progression so that kidney patients avoid dialysis or a transplant for longer.
- Better treatments. Technological advances in dialysis, to make it more tolerable and effective.
- Better kidney transplants. We’ll make advances that make transplants last longer, reduce the burden of treatment and monitoring, and improve quality of life.
- Kinder monitoring. We’ll have a new and less invasive alternative to having multiple biopsies to monitor kidney disease. Better care.
- New models of healthcare delivery that improve efficiency and equity of kidney care, so everyone in the UK gets the best quality treatments and support they need.
Our memberships and affiliations
We are members of...
ABPI Patient Organisation Forum
Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC)
Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) Patient Group Partners
Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) Public Involvement Network
All Wales Medicines Strategy Group's Patient and Public Involvement Group
Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland
