In this section

Read more about our current projects here. We will update you with information on their progress. If you would like to contribute to any please get in touch using the email: [email protected]

Use the quick links below to skip to a section.

We have many ongoing projects and expect to receive more requests in the future. We have built good working relationships with charities and other renal bodies, and they are asking for our contribution. Additionally, it’s more important now than ever that we share resources to protect all of our time. This all means there are many opportunities for you to get involved in the wider aspects of renal dietetics.

If you have a particular knowledge or expertise in the topics, volunteering would be a good way to use your skill to make a difference. Creating a resource, collaborating or check/ reviewing, would all be valued. But, if you are new to the subject, helping is also a great way to gain more experience in an area that interests you.  We would aim to support you as needed. Working with other renal dietitians from different areas is excellent for CPD and networking. Being part of your profession, contributing nationally to the quality of our patients’ care, and promoting renal dietetics can be rewarding in itself.

Please also let us know if you have any comments or ideas about our projects, so that what we produce can be the best possible support to you.[email protected] 

Resources for dietitians

History of Renal Dietetics

Professor John Feehally is documenting a History of Nephrology, and has asked us for information on the History of Renal Dietetics. Barbara Engel and Mariane Vennegoor are compiling a history of the RNG in our 50th year. Some of the work has been published in the September issue of Dietetics Today, and in the blog section on the BDA website here. We plan to add more from the archives, and a link to this from John Feehally’s site soon.

Updating the Dietary Advice Post Transplant Toolkit

Dietitians have found this a really useful resource. It was completed in 2016, and is currently being updated to include any more recent evidence. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2023 or early 2024. We are also considering including considerations for the Failing Transplant as an additional section.

Updating the Phosphate Consensus Statement –Evidenced based summary

Teresa Howes has set up a phosphate additive working group to update the current document. There  are additional topics that have arisen since it's publication in 2018. We are researching those first and plan to release them once completed to stand alongside the current document in a toolkit meanwhile.  There is also likely to be additional work around lobbying for easier phosphate additive labelling for our patients. Please get in touch if you would like to contribute, or would like to suggest topics for inclusion. [email protected]

Eating on HD during Covid

Bruno Malfrici has updated these recommendations, and they are going through the approval process.

Multicultural Information – dietitians’ handbook

The handbook has been completed and uploaded to our webpage. We are currently costing a printed version which we hope to have available in the BDA shop.

The multicultural low potassium patient resources are also uploaded, and translation is ongoing. See below under Resources for Patients for more information on multicultural patient resources.

Education and Development

Practical Guide to Renal dietetics 

This workbook has 2 sections (10 chapters) completed and uploaded to the website for ready for use, covering background kidney knowledge and CKD 1-5. It has been designed to supplement pre registration learning, but is staged so that it is also useful for qualified dietitians wanting to learn about Renal Nutrition. See more here

Barbara Engel and Claire Gardiner lead on this project, and are inviting expressions of interest to work with them in developing further chapters. If you would like to contribute to the planned work on Transplantation, AKI, Biochemistry, Malnutrition, Nephrotic Syndrome, Renal Stones or UKM, please get in touch. [email protected]

Dietetic competencies

Fluid and Salt, and Undernutrition competencies are completed and uploaded to the website under Education / Competencies. here  Potassium Management and CKD-MBD Management are almost ready to upload, and Diabetes and CKD Competencies are being written. AKI competencies are planned. Fiona Willingham leads the working group.

MSc Module in Renal Nutrition

Barbara Engel has developed an MSc Module, which is newly available on the University of Surrey's website for 23/24. There is still ongoing work on internal details, such as the transferability (Recognition of Prior Learning), but you can view the content of the module, and that of the Nutritional Medicine MSc now.

Resources for Patients

Guidance for Food Banks and Budget Recipes

A short advice sheet for Food Banks catering for clients with Kidney Disease has been completed and will be on the RNG webpages soon. Kidney Kitchen have produced a Budget Conscious Booklet with recipes, which is available free to patients and dietitians. Order your copies here. The Food Bank guidance is also on the KCUK website and in their booklet, and it has been circulated to The Trussell Trust and an association for Independant Food Banks.

We are aiming to protect our patient's dignity, if they wish, by making the Food Bank advice as widely available as possible. Please let us know if you are aware of another organisation we should inform. [email protected]

Multicultural patient information

Low potassium patient advice sheets for a range of cultures are completed and uploaded to our webpare- as is the dietitians’ handbook. Obtaining accurate translations has been more difficult due to funding, and this is ongoing.

Meanwhile, because translation costs have been prohibitive, we plan to start a pool to share already translated patient information sheets from around the UK. These will be uploaded to the website as they are, and will not go through the BDA/RNG approval processes.

If you have translated patient resources that you are happy to contribute, please get in touch. [email protected]  We will be pleased to have a range of information sheets for one subject. Please send the English language version from which they were translated to help the dietitians using them to explain. Thushara Dassanayake is leading this project.

Updating current patient resources

Jo Pulman is leading a working group aiming to produce a bank of updated patient resources for renal dietitians to use, and some more basic patient information that can be given without a renal dietitian. This important work should save us all time, by saving us separately writing our own.You are welcome to join us to produce the resources sooner. Let us know if you are intending to produce a resource locally and if you are happy to share. Or work with us to produce a nationally used one. 

Healthy Eating for your Kidneys:

Information Sheets are being written for those with CKD 1-5 who do not need low potassium, low phosphate or nutritional support advice. These include Plant Based and Vegan versions.

Phosphate:

A phosphate information sheet is being produced, and a more detailed Low Phosphate Diet sheet is planned

Potassium:

 A potassium information sheet for early CKD is being produced in line with the recent evidence. We are considering a staged low potassium patient information sheet for later CKD. We are also about to start working on an Asian Vegetaran potassium information sheet.

We hope the information sheets being worked on will be ready to be uploaded in early 2023.

Additionally, we are considering information on Diabetes and CKD, Potassium Additives in food, and a separate Phosphate Additives information sheet. Please contact us with any requests for additional patient resources that you would like to see, and with any requests for a priority order in those planned using the email: [email protected] 

Collaboration with other agencies

UKKA links –requests for dietitians in their working groups

Angeline Taylor is to start attending the UKKA Sustainability Group. Katie Durman has been working with the UKKA Guidelines Working Group currently producing a guideline for the Management of Hypertension in Dialysis. We expect to get more requests for additional groups in the next few months. Normally, the commitment is to attend one virtual meeting per month and then feedback/feed-in where appropriate. This is an excellent opportunity to promote dietitians, to ensure high quality diet care, and to make a difference to renal care nationally. We hope we have enough interested RNG members to be able to respond. 

Kidney Beam Nutrition module

Kidney Beam have asked us to contribute to a nutrition module. We are still awaiting details of what it may look like, but if you may be interested in the group, or have comments on its format, please get in touch. [email protected]

Kidney Kitchen and Kidney Care UK

Kidney Kitchen is well established with posters and booklets available. Follow the link to see more.  The booklets are free to BDA members at the moment (possibly until the end of the year) so that they can be distributed by dietitians to all people with Kidney Disease. Order your free pack.  More recipes are available on their site, many with videos of the food being cooked. Approving and videoing more recipes will be ongoing. They have just responded to the need for Budget Recipes, with a booklet free to patients and dietitians. Order you copies here. Next topics planned are Weight Reducing, and Asian Recipes.

Shelley Wills leads with all Kidney Kitchen and KCUK work.

National Kidney Federation

NKF would like us to work with them, so that they can have up to date information available for patients. We have agreed to make our updated diet resources, when completed, available for them to use. Jo Pulman is leading on both these projects. For more information, please see the patient resources section above. Or get in touch to help with this work. [email protected]

PEN links

PEN, from time to time, ask for a UK reviewer for their CKD articles. This is an excellent CPD opportunity for anyone intending to submit abstracts or articles elsewhere in the future. Working as a reviewer will also help ensure high quality of the available information. We will announce the requests on the RNG webpage when we hear of them. But the application deadlines tend to be very tight, so you are welcome to let us know now of any speciality interests in readiness for future opportunities. 

Renal version of ‘Carbs and Cals’

Shelley Wills is leading and some work has been started, but the author of the Renal version of ‘Carbs and Cals’ has put the project on hold at until at least January 2023. Meanwhile, please let us know how this could be made as useful as possible a resource to you and our patients.