Portsmouth Hospitals awarded £100k for renal care app study

Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust has been awarded almost £100,000 in funding  to explore how a digital tool could help make kidney care more inclusive for patients.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) provided the funding for the six-month INCLUDE-CKD study, which launched on 24 April.

It will look at how patients from all backgrounds use the MyRenalCare app, a digital platform created at the Wessex Kidney Centre to provide people with chronic kidney disease a more flexible way to manage their condition.

Dr Nick Sangala, a consultant nephrologist at the Wessex Kidney Centre who created MyRenalCare, said: “MyRenalCare is already benefitting thousands of individuals living with kidney disease, enabling personalised care to be delivered at home.

“In order to help many more people, we must understand if our reach and benefit is equitable, and if it isn’t, learn how to make sure it is in the future.

“We are very proud to be doing this work with Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust supported by the NIHR.”

Over the next year, around 1,000 people using MyRenalCare will be compared with the same number receiving usual care.

Interviews with patients and staff will also be conducted to understand their real-life experiences and whether digital kidney care reduces or exacerbates health inequalities.

Patient feedback highlighted that juggling long-term illnesses with work, travel and family life is difficult, and that they wanted more control over their care.

MyRenalCare was designed closely with patients to create a practical, accessible platform aligned with real-world needs.

The team will work with clinicians, researchers and patient representatives to ensure the findings directly shape future services.

Joanna Smart, programme director for the NIHR Invention for Innovation Programme, said: “The NIHR is constantly looking at how digital tools like the MyRenalCare app can improve standards of care for patients, meeting their needs at home rather than having to attend hospital or clinic appointments – while also making care more accessible to communities most affected by kidney disease, including older people, ethnic minorities and those from deprived socioeconomic backgrounds.

“The research team will assess whether this app can make care more inclusive, while also helping patients save time and money, and reduce pressures on the NHS.”

The results will help Portsmouth Hospitals University and wider NHS services understand how to roll out digital kidney care that reaches everyone who needs it.

Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust trialled the MyRenalCare app in 2022 over a period of 12 months.

More than 1,200 patients with chronic kidney disease, under the care of the Wessex Kidney Centre, used the app and was found to have increased outpatient capacity by 30%.

The trial was part-funded by an NHS X Digital Health Partnership Award, with the charity Kidney Care UK also helping fund the project.