The Kidney PREM is a national annual survey of kidney patients

It aims to:

  • Help teams understand how patients feel about their experience of care

  • Show where improvement can be made

  • Give the UKRR a national picture of people’s experience of care.

Kidney PREM 2024

The collection window for the 2024 Kidney PREM is 16th September - 11 November 2024.

Collection resources for units have been sent. Digital versions are available below:

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

Improving patient experience - the importance of local champions and stories

Learning from the Welsh Renal Network, and with the support of the Kidney Quality Improvement Partnership (KQuIP), we aim to provide some virtual Kidney PREM champion training and networking sessions for anyone involved in coordinating and engaging their staff and patient community in the Kidney PREM – Contact KQuIP for more information on when and how to access these free online sessions.

Thanks to your support, the kidney community has made a real success of establishing an annual patient experience survey. But we know that the survey is just a means to an end, and it is how that information is used to improve patient care and experience locally that really matters.

We would love to hear about and share the many examples of changes that kidney teams have introduced as a result of the Kidney PREM, to engage with patients and improve care. By sharing all the activities your local kidney team, volunteers or patient groups have done in response to the Kidney PREM, we can really inspire more teams to learn from the innovation and improvements made right across the UK, improving the experience for people living with kidney disease.

Get in touch with the Kidney PREM team

The National Kidney PREM was collected across the UK for eight weeks from the 11th September – 6th November 2023.

Units can view their results for 2023 Here.

Kidney PREM 2023 Report out now!

This report describes how people with kidney disease rated their experience of kidney care in 2023, with analysis of all 39 questions and written comments, comparisons by treatment type and centre, and recommendations to help the community improve patient experience of care.

Download the Kidney PREM 2023 Report now

Also available:

2023 Additional Results and Information:

Paediatric Kidney PREM

Promotion of the Kidney PREM 2023:

The resources below were used to promote participation in the Kidney PREM amongst people treated for CKD.

Over 11,000 kidney paitents took part in the Kidney PREM 2022 survey.

Download the Kidney PREM 2022 Report now

Also available:

New for 2022 – Paediatric Kidney PREM

Over 12,000 kidney patients took part in the Kidney PREM 2021 survey from November to December 2021.

Additional results and information

Acting on Kidney PREM 2021

Kidney patients being cared for in NHS renal units in the United Kingdom were invited to take part in the Kidney PREM 2020 online survey from 1st October – 12th November.

Download the Kidney PREM 2020 national report

Download the Kidney PREM 2020 patient information leaflet

Additional results and information

Acting on the Kidney PREM 2020

Download the Kidney PREM 2019 national report.

Additional results and information

Acting on the Kidney PREM 2019

Download the Kidney PREM 2018 national report.

Additional results and information

Download the Kidney PREM 2017 national report

The background to the PREM

PREM 2016 came about through the Transforming Participation in Chronic Kidney Disease (TP-CKD) Programme and was one of a series of measures developed by the Measurement Workstream with the aim to routinely collect patient-reported outcomes and experience measures in CKD patients.

The TP-CKD Programme was initially working with 10 renal units. The PREM became something bigger, however, when the renal unit clinical directors agreed at their annual forum in 2016, that a national PREM survey would be of value, and that many would be keen to participate.

Of the 52 adult renal units in England, 39 units (75%) took part in the pilot PREM. Over 8,000 people responded, completing the survey. This was a remarkable result for a pilot project of this scale. Results from the PREM 2016 can be found in the 2016 Report below.

Since the PREM 2016, the survey has gone through a rigorous validation process, in partnership with the University of Hertfordshire and renal centres across Wales. This will inform the PREM in the future.

The Kidney PREM is led by The UK Kidney Association in partnership with Kidney Care UK.