As Thursday 13 March is World Kidney Day, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate the Renal Young Adult Service in NHS Lothian, which was the first of its kind in Scotland.
The service was first set up back in May 2023 and was designed to provide care to young adults aged 16-35 who have a kidney condition.
The service is led by Sharlene Taylor, Renal Young Adult Support Worker, who supports patients both individually as well as in group settings, such as the peer support group, which runs each month at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE).
Since it’s launch, the service has already had several mile stones, including in Summer 2024, Sharlene and one of the young adults being invited to be part of a presentation at the national Kidney Conference, which took place in Edinburgh’s International Conference Centre.
Thanks to funding from Kidney Care UK and NHS Lothian Charity, the Young Adult Renal Patients service was able to treat the patients to a weekend away to the Mount Cook Activity Centre in Derbyshire. Although Kidney Care UK run this weekend event every year as a chance for young people to have fun while getting to know others going through the same health journey, it was the first time they had ever had service users from Scotland attend.
The mission of the weekend was to facilitate a fun and safe environment to be inspired, get advice, and to enjoy time with others of a similar age who truly understand what they’re going through.
Discussing what’s next for the Renal Young Adult service, Sharlene said: “We have lots planned over the coming months, to help support our young people.
“Thanks to NHS Lothian’s Tonic Arts, they will get to attend workshops with a local artist, giving them the chance to express their feelings and emotions using various mediums. Their work will then be exhibited late summer at the RIE.
They’ll also get to see an art exhibition at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, to see artwork created by patients on dialysis. We hope this will inspire them as well as give them the chance to talk to other like-minded patients.”
Initially the service was set up with funding for just two years but has now secured further funding until 2027.
