Improving the care of patients with acute kidney injury

I was pleased to be nominated and receive a runner-up award for Renal Nurse of the Year in the BJN Awards 2020. The path to this award began in April 2015, when University Hospital Southampton (UHS) NHS Foundation Trust decided to appoint an acute kidney injury (AKI) clinical nurse specialist (CNS) on a 9-month secondment to deliver the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) framework for AKI (NHS England, 2015).

This CQUIN aimed to drive better communication between the primary care team and hospital settings and to pass on information about acute episodes of inpatient AKIs. It was to achieve that by assisting in providing vital information to GPs regarding the ongoing management of patients with AKI and medication reviews in the community setting.

This role was to sit within the patient safety team as a Trust-wide position and be led by the AKI lead consultant nephrologist. Despite being a large tertiary hospital with multiple specialties, UHS does not have a renal unit, and in 2015 had a small renal team. The renal team, therefore, did not have capacity to review all AKI patients within the organisation, nor is that appropriate as many patients with AKI have pre- and post-renal AKI related to acute illness. What was required was an acute care practitioner who was experienced in dealing with acutely unwell patients across a range of clinical settings.