We support local kidney patients who have
irreversible or chronic kidney disease, often referred to as CKD. They
have life-threatening kidney failure and depend on either dialysis or a
kidney transplant for survival.
We are local because we support patients going to the
Freeman Hospital renal unit. We are the only
charity giving this direct support.
We give direct support in several ways. These include:
- Holding meetings in which patients can
give each other support.
- Arranging specialist talks to help
renal patients understand their health problems and treatments.
- Arranging outings and social
events.
- Giving practical advice on a range of
things such as arranging holidays for dialysis patients.
- Offering telephone support from
experienced patients.
- Sending out a regular Newsletter.
In
addition we give indirect support by:
- Donating money to the Newcastle
Hospitals' Welfare Fund so renal social workers can give immediate
financial assistance to patients and their families.
- Supplying extra items to the renal
wards.
- Working with hospital staff to develop
the best services for patients possible.
- Giving out organ donor cards.
We do not have a
subscription but depend on both donations and fund raising to finance
our activities.
The TKPA
is also affiliated to the National Kidney Federation. The NKF send out
a magazine called Kidney Life and does a lot of work to promote the
development of national renal services.
