Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) as a financial, resource and human burden on both the NHS and people with AKI. Clearly if AKI is the cause of much morbidity and mortality and significant amounts of it can be prevented and/or detected earlier, this could only be a good thing. In part, the problem with AKI is that it has historically been regarded as little more than a sequal to other more pressing physical illnesses and therefore not taken as seriously as it might. The 2013 guidance from NICE—clinical guideline 169—and the accompanying pathway, seek to address this with an emphasis on assessment and prevention, identification of disease, management and subsequent chronic disease management (NICE, 2013a).

Peter Ellis - Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, Canterbury Christ Church University

Karen Jenkins - Consultant Nurse, Kent Kidney Care Centre, East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, Kent & Canterbury Hospital