The first ever National CKD audit produced worrying results for the UK. With 1 in 20 adults having CKD and often no symptoms until it is too late, those at higher risk eg patients with diabetes and high blood pressure, regular blood and and urine tests should be done, and at least annually if not more often. But the recently released National CKD audit found that on average only 54% of people with diabetes have the relevant urine tests, compared to 86% that have blood tests. In some other groups, including those with high blood pressure, it’s less than 30%.
This makes the chance of identifying patients with problems a bit variable to put it mildly. Further findings showed that whilst over 80% of those who have CKD had had a blood test in the previous year, only 31% had a repeat urine test. For people without diabetes, urine testing rates dropped to less than 15%. This is despite recommendations that effort should be focused on regular review. The report authors also urged GPs to review how they record the fact a patient has CKD on their systems as almost a third of confirmed CKD cases were not given the right coding and 1 in 10 people who were coded as having CKD did not have it.
You can read the full report at the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership.
For our American readers, GP is short for General Practitioner, the free medical providers available to all UK residents. The vast majority of UK medical care is provided free by the state's National Health Service.
