Pioneering course sets the standard

A HEALTH czar has praised a GP practice in Oldham for running the country’s first course on chronic kidney disease.

The NHS’s national clinical director for kidney care, Dr Donal O’Donoghue, is so impressed at the work being done on the Warwick Chronic Kidney Disease course, that he personally presented the five practice nurses who took part with their certificates.

The course has been run by the Woodlands Medical Practice in Chadderton with support from Oldham Community Health Services‚ (part of Oldham Primary Care Trust) education and training team and aims to make sure practice nurses have the confidence and knowledge to fully support patients with kidney disease.

As part of the course the staff looked at what kidney disease is, how it can be prevented, healthy lifestyles, stopping the disease from progressing, when to refer patients and how to help the patient to manage the medicines they are taking.

Dr O’Donoghue said: “I am delighted to present these certificates because this is a pioneering course and I hope it will be the start of many courses being run both in Oldham and across the country.

“Chronic kidney disease is a debilitating condition and anything we can do to prevent and support patients who have it is worthwhile.”

Jane Higginson, practice nurse at Woodlands Medical Practice, said: “The feedback we have had from nurses who have taken part has all been very positive. They have all said they feel they have more knowledge, understanding and confidence as a result of doing this course and are better able to support patients.

“We hope to continue to run the course because making sure nurses have the knowledge of how best to support patients will become more important as the population ages. Older people are more likely to have chronic kidney disease and diabetes.”

In the first course, five practice nurses took part from centres across Oldham, these include Radcliffe Medical Practice, Saddleworth Medical Practice, St Mary’s Medical Centre, Lees Road Surgery and Woodlands Medical Practice.

The course has been accredited by Warwick University and another will run in September.