Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of levels of current capacity for in-centre dialysis services; and what plans his Department has to ensure that renal service capacity matches both current and projected patient need.

NHS England is delivering a comprehensive programme to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of people with kidney disease. In 2023, NHS England published a renal services transformation (RSTP) toolkit to support earlier identification of chronic kidney disease and more joined up services. The RSTP sets out that services, working in partnership with integrated care boards, should undertake capacity planning and activity monitoring to ensure service capacity matches demand requirements.

These changes are intended to make it easier to deliver improvements along the whole patient pathway including earlier diagnosis and treatment, that can potentially prevent or delay the need for dialysis and transplant further downstream in the pathway.

NHS England is also investing in home dialysis for children, supported by a robust network of nurses and clinicians who can move that care from hospital to home. This approach is working, with rates of home dialysis ranging from 64 % to 76% across the 10 National Health Service paediatric dialysis centres.