Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help improve NHS (a) social and (b) emotional care for people living with kidney disease.

In England, care for patients with chronic kidney disease is addressed through the specialised service specifications for renal services. Service specifications define the standards of care expected from organisations providing specialised care and, for renal services, they require patients to have access to psychology services and social work advice as a core component of a multi-disciplinary team.

NHS England, through its Renal Services Transformation Programme (RSTP) and regional renal clinical networks, is progressing a series of programmes to: provide better and more joined-up care across care settings; reduce health inequalities; and focus on prevention and timely intervention, through streamlined patient pathways to address management of deteriorating kidney disease. Psychosocial support within renal services has been identified by the RSTP as a theme for improvement.