The national Kidney PREM is being collected across the UK for eight weeks from the 11th September – 6th November 2023.
This year the collection of Kidney PREM will be going digital only.
This means there will be no paper versions of the PREM delivered to units. We will still be sending out PREM promotional materials to units.
Why is the kidney PREM going digital?
- For improved data quality
- To reduce our impact on the environment
- Time and workload consideration for renal unit staff
- To ensure the number and quality of free-text comments
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kidney PREM survey had to move online completely. This actually resulted in improved data quality and a higher volume and calibre of free-text comments. Since then, promotion of and engagement with the online survey has increased.
15,210 paper surveys were distributed in 2022 but only 4,033 were returned - and not all of them were complete.
On incomplete paper surveys, some had the centre name missing, treatment type missing, ethnicity, age, etc. Incomplete data makes it difficult to give an accurate picture.
Nearly 10% of age data was missing for those using paper copies, whereas all online entries were complete.
The online Kidney PREM survey uses ‘forced response’ questions, where participants can’t move on to the next section before responding, which minimises missing data.
Switching to online greatly reduces the time that renal unit staff have to spend receiving, distributing and supporting the return of the physical paper surveys.
The scanning of the paper surveys into the system took an estimated 150 hours of staff time.
What about patients/carers who cannot access digitally?
When examining the characteristics of respondents (age, gender, ethnicity) according to their completion method (paper or online), equity of access for minority ethnic groups was not a major concern. However, some differences were noted in those 56 years old and over, with more opting to use the paper surveys. We are working with PREM champions to support those who may face difficulties accessing the PREM survey online.
Get in touch for more information about the kidney PREM going digital