Guidelines

The Clinical Practice Guidelines committee prepares guidelines for the renal community in the UK. The guidelines provide a template for the management of patients with kidney disease in the UK and define the data collected by the Renal Registry. The committee comprises the leaders of each of the guideline modules of the current edition of the guidelines shown below, chaired by Dr Andrew Lewington, Andrew.Lewington@leedsth.nhs.uk   

The guidelines provide a template for the management of patients with kidney disease in the UK and define the data collected by the Renal Registry.

The Fifth Edition of the Clinical Practice Guidelines

Module Date Review due
Blood-borne viruses - Colin Geddes, Elizabeth Lindley & Neill Duncan 14/07/09 2012

Haemodialysis - Robert Mactier, Nic Hoenich & Cormac Breen

 01/12/09 2012
Vascular Access For Haemodialysis - Dr Richard Fluck & Dr Mick Kumwenda 05/01/11 2014
Peritoneal dialysis - Dr Graham Woodrow & Prof Simon Davies 30/07/10 2013
Peritoneal access - Martin Wilkie, Sarah Jenkins & Badi Shrestha 22/09/09 2012
Planning, initiation & withdrawal of RRT - Ken Farrington & Graham Warwick 17/09/09 2012
Assessment of the Potential Kidney Transplant Recipient - Chris Dudley & Paul Harden 12/01/11 2014
Acute Kidney Injury - Andrew Lewington & Suren Kanagasundaram 08/03/11 2014
Nutrition in CKD - Dr Mark Wright & Dr Colin Jones 25/06/10 2013
Anaemia in CKD - Dr Ashraf Mikhail, Dr Rajesh Shrivastava & Dr Donald Richardson 15/11/10 2013
Cardiovascular disease in CKD - Dr Stephen Holt & Dr David Goldsmith 06/08/10 2013
CKD-Mineral and Bone Disorders (CKD-MBD) - Dr Simon Steddon & Dr Edward Sharples 06/12/10 2013
Detection, Monitoring and Care of Patients with CKD - Dr Mark S. MacGregor & Dr Maarten W. Taal 28/02/11 2014
Post-operative Care of the Kidney Transplant Recipient - Dr R Baker, Professor A Jardine & Dr Peter Andrews 05/02/11 2014
RA and ART Guideline on Water Treatment Facilities, Dialysis Water and Dialysis Fluid Quality for Haemodialysis and Related Therapies - Nic Hoenich, Robert Mactier, Gerard Boyle, Maurice Harrington, Elizabeth Lindley, Ian Morgan, Paul Rylance, Donal O’Donoghue  20/01/12  2015

In commissioning the fifth edition of the guidelines the Clinical Affairs Board considered the term Clinical Practice Guidelines more appropriate than the previous term 'Standards’. The number of guideline modules was expanded to fourteen for the fifth edition commencing in 2009. All of the previous Renal Association guidelines have been archived in the old guidelines page.

Guideline Process

Each of the modules was drafted by a small group of individuals selected on the basis of their expertise and freedom from potential bias. Each module comprises a series of guideline statements with accompanying text to explain how these are derived. The supporting evidence is referenced and audit measures defined. Recommendations in these modules are graded using the modified GRADE system for grading the strength of each recommendation (1 = strong, 2 = weak) and quality of supporting evidence (A = high, B =moderate, C = low, D = very low). As the modules are completed they are internally reviewed by the Clinical Practice Guidelines committee before being made available for broader consultation via the Renal Association website. Comments on the first and final drafts are invited via the monthly eNews and are fed back directly to module leads via email or Discussion Forums. Potential stakeholder organisations are informed as the various modules become available and specifically invited to comment. Once feedback on the final draft has been received and approved by the Clinical Affairs Board, the edited final version of each module is locked on the website. Whenever significant changes are made, a copy of the previous version is stored and made available as a downloadable pdf file at the foot of the relevant guideline page. Because the guideline process permits constant updating in response to important new studies no printed copies are distributed. The guidelines should print satisfactorily from the web version and pdf versions can be downloaded by all users free of charge. All of the guidelines are produced without any external funding or sponsorship from industry. This guideline process has been used for all modules in the fifth edition and was accredited by NHS Evidence in October 2010. The policy manual for this guideline process is published as a pdf at the foot of this page.

Future Guidelines

The first and final draft versions of future guidelines and all planned guidelines approved by the Clinical Affairs Board will be shown on the future guidelines page. It is intended that all future guidelines will use the modified GRADE system within the framework of the NHS Evidence approved, Renal Association guidance process. This should also apply to guidelines which are developed in collaboration with other specialist societies and which are published on the other guidelines page.

Other Guidelines

For the convenience of users of the website renal related guidelines produced by other guidance groups, such as NICE and SIGN, are listed on the other guidelines page.

The current UK guidelines can be compared with the guidelines produced by other organisations across the world on the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) website at www.kdigo.org.

Downloads

  1. RA and ART Guideline on Water Treatment Facilities, Dialysis Water and Dialysis Fluid Quality for Haemodialysis and Related Therapies Draft 30 June 2011
    .pdf file (1005.64 KB)
    Download
  2. Summary of audit measures for the 5th Edition of the Renal Association Clinical Practice Guidelines
    .pdf file (222.65 KB)
    Download
  3. Minutes of the RA Clinical Practice Guideline Committee Annual Meeting 2011
    .pdf file (146.05 KB)
    Download
  4. Guideline Development Process Policy Manual - 15 June 2010
    .pdf file (218.47 KB)
    Download
  5. Minutes of the Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee meeting - 19 May 2010
    .pdf file (86.58 KB)
    Download
  6. CPG Committee Minutes April 2009
    .pdf file (82.35 KB)
    Download
  7. CPG Committee Minutes 15 May 2008
    .doc file (46.00 KB)
    Download
  8. Minutes from Brighton meeting May 2007 (amended July)
    .pdf file (76.59 KB)
    Download