Use of MyRenalCare at the Wessex Kidney Centre has won The Future NHS Award at the NHS Parliamentary Awards

14th October 2024

The Wessex Kidney Centre, based at Portsmouth Hospital University NHS Trust has won The Future NHS Award at the NHS Parliamentary awards for innovatively transforming chronic kidney disease management using MyRenalCare. The award is for successfully trialling and embedding change to make better use of innovations, research data and digital technology, to provide more convenient access to services and information for patients and improve support for staff.

A report by Kidney Research UK was presented to the government showing that by 2033, kidney disease would cost the NHS more than £13.9bn unless changes were made to the way care is delivered.

The renal team at the Wessex Kidney Centre has been at the forefront of delivering a change that will benefit patients, staff and the government.

MyRenalCare delivers remote monitoring and digital communication between consultants and patients. Patients build their own electronic health record, recording their blood pressure, weight and symptoms on MyRenalCare, while blood results are automatically uploaded. Clinicians can review this data, make a clinical judgment and give feedback to patients remotely on MyRenalCare without need for face to face, video or telephone contact – a 100% virtual appointment.

MyRenalCare allows patients to contact their clinical team directly (also known as patient initiated follow up, PIFU) empowering patients to get the help they need, when they need it, reducing the burden on primary and emergency care. 

Patients also have access educational content and videos created by and hosted on MyRenalCare to support patients to take control of their own health.

In 2023 MyRenalCare has transformed the outpatient care of kidney patients with:

• 1553 patient at all stages of CKD aged 18 to 93 years using MyRenalCare.

• 1180 virtual appointments delivered to 479 patients saving 197 hours of consultant time.

• 2510 Patient Initiated Follow Up (PIFU) requests made.

• Miles travelled by patients to receive care reduced by >50% with a subsequent reduction in CO2 emissions.

• Outpatient capacity increased by up to 33% reducing waiting time for new patient appointments from 3 months to 2 weeks

• Cost of delivering care reduced by 25% - £300 pounds per patient per year

MyRenalCare has been developed by Ardia Digital Healthcare, which was founded by Dr Nicholas Sangala, a Nephrology Consultant based at the Wessex Kidney Centre. MyRenalCare was developed in collaboration with Portsmouth Hospital University NHS Trust, Portsmouth Hospitals Charity, the University of Portsmouth and Kidney Care UK.

The positive impact it has had on patients:

>1800 patients are using MyRenalCare and feedback has been excellent.  94% report feeling well looked after, 89% prefer virtual appointments to routine face to face appointments and 93% would recommend MyRenalCare to others.  >66% said they felt more engaged in managing their condition and research has proven that patients who are more engaged with their health have better health outcomes.

Phil West has had three kidney transplants and has been on and off dialysis for more than a decade. As part of routine check-ups he would normally have to attend hospital every three to four months. He said:

The positive impact it has had for Portsmouth Hospital University NHS Trust

• 33% increase in outpatient clinic capacity.  Virtual consultations using MyRenalCare take <5mins compared to standard 15minute appointments.

• 25% reduction in cost.  Independent health economic analysis has shown that the app would save nearly £1.5m per year if utilised by all renal consultants at PHU with an additional £370,917 of societal savings (time off work / parking).

• Deliver towards the Trust Green Plan for reduction in carbon emissions with travel miles per patient reduced by more than 50%.

• Support infection prevention control measures by reducing hospital contact.

The positive impact it has had on NHS staff:

• Clinicians are able to utilise higher quality and quantity of patient data to make data driven decisions

• More rewarding as clinicians are able to help more patients, more quickly whilst supporting well patients remotely

• As a world first digital solution for CKD, MyRenalCare is opening up novel research avenues including machine learning and automation.

A winner was decided by a panel of national judges made up of notable figures across the healthcare sector.

MyRenalCare is looking to scale nationally to help deliver these benefits to more renal patients and departments. To find out more please get in touch