Provision of Home Dialysis Service

The Welsh Kidney Network (WKN) is a non-statutory body which obtains its authority and responsibility as delegated by the Welsh Health Specialised Services (WHSSC) Joint Committee. The role of the Welsh Kidney Network (WKN) is to collaboratively plan and commission adult kidney services in Wales on behalf of the Welsh population and NHS Wales. The Network sees it as one of their major roles to work with the kidney community, which must include Patients and Carers.

Included within the Welsh Kidney Network’s Terms of Reference are the following areas of responsibility:

1. Home Haemodialysis
2. Peritoneal Dialysis
3. In Centre Haemodialysis/ Unit Haemodialysis
4. Kidney Transplant/Transplantation
5. Vascular Access for dialysis

Other areas where the Welsh Kidney Network supports the NHS are;

a) Kidney supportive care (Conservative Management)

b) End of Life Care

c) Quality & Patient Safety Group

d) Renal Pharmacy and Medicine Management

e) Clinical Information & IT

f) Acute Kidney Injury and Acute Dialysis

g) Renal Workforce and Education

h) Patient Information

i) Holiday Dialysis

Building on the work of the Renal Delivery Plan (2016-2020) the next five year phase of service development for people with kidney disease must take advantage of the widespread consensus on priority areas, bring programmes to fruition, and maintain the national leadership, local engagement and collaboration with third sector that has been achieved. This will ensure that there is a long-term and consistent approach to improving outcomes as envisaged in the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act and demonstrated by international experience.

Kidney Replacement Therapy (KRT) such as dialysis is provided to around 1,400 adult Welsh residents and around 100 kidney transplants are undertaken each year. There are also almost 1,800 Welsh patients living with a functioning kidney transplant, who require ongoing clinical review, psychosocial support and immunosuppressive drug treatments. All forecasts consistently demonstrate that the need for these services for adults will grow by 4-5% year on year.

Kidney services in Wales were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the learning from the need to adapt to the challenges has influenced the approach of the Quality Statement between WG and the WKN. The vision is to develop a Kidney Integrated Care Pathway (KICP) to provide the overarching framework for the delivery of kidney care from prevention to supporting patients to decide on the form of kidney replacement therapy that is right for them. The KICP will aim to drive system-wide improvement through a reduction in unwarranted variation of care and improved patient outcomes.

Amongst this wide ranging portfolio, the provision of home dialysis service is a key cross cutting theme supporting the WKN’s aim to improve outcomes across NHS Wales. There is a continued desire to improve services, drive innovation and ensure that patients have equitable access to a consistent and efficient home dialysis services that are sustainable for NHS Wales.

Due to this, the WKN are looking to discuss with Industry on their potential solutions around the delivery of a home dialysis service to enable a re-procurement of these services in Wales for 2025.

It should be noted that the current NHS Wales arrangements provides a national procurement framework that allows Health Boards in Wales to access a flexible pre-vetted list of suppliers, providing patient choice to meet their needs. This framework provides a comprehensive delivery model beyond supply of equipment and consumables, however, the WKN is aware that the market has evolved since the original framework award in 2015 and wishes to provide the opportunity for potential providers to engage with the service to discuss opportunities to improve and expand upon the WKN’s strategy for this area. Additional information: To register your interest and request a meeting to please send an email to the contact details within this notice to enable discussions on potential solutions that your company could offer.