For the last 18 months Think Kidneys has been working to develop practical resources to raise awareness and help with the prevention, detection and management of AKI in care homes and today we launch this work on the website. The work was done by a cross-professional group comprising health care assistants, nurses, dieticians, care home managers, commissioners, hydration specialists and academics.
We know that around 65% of AKI starts in the community and with over 400,000 people living in care homes then it makes sense that some cases of AKI will start in care homes, among frail elderly residents, who are at increased risk of AKI. We recognised that the resources needed to be accessible, practical and capable of making a real difference. The resources were developed and tested in 45 care homes. Following this they were refined and are now available for care homes to download from the Think Kidney website at: https://www.thinkkidneys.nhs.uk/aki/resources/care-homes/
Care homes are already reporting some great results using the resources. Birmingham Crosscity CCG has been working with care homes in their locality, and at Boldmere Court care home where staff have received the training, they have seen the number of urinary tract infections on the dementia unit fall from 10 to one over a period of eight weeks and there were zero hospital admissions for AKI in that time.
Recognising the challenges experienced in care homes such as high staff turnover, recruitment problems and difficulties in releasing staff to undergo training we knew that the resources had to be concise, effective and quick, providing appropriate training, some simple-to-follow tips, and signposting for more help. Working with experienced people from the sector has enabled us to produce highly effective resources that fit the bill with the potential to have a very significant impact.
Richard Fluck, Chair of the Think Kidneys programme and consultant renal physician, said of the care homes resource development work…
“We have been delighted with the work taking place in care homes – the staff and teams have been inspirational in developing the ideas from Think Kidneys for the needs of their clients and staff. This isn’t just about stopping people from having to be admitted to hospital – it’s about taking simple steps to prevent suffering, pain and hardship for some of the most vulnerable and frail people in our society.”