What we did last year to...
Strive for excellence.
We are continually improving the way we do things – becoming an organisation that’s always learning, works quickly and enables our people to be at their best so we can end kidney disease.
Greener for good
We have moved to eradicate single use plastic in our marketing and fundraising materials. We stopped producing Kidney Research UK balloons, and now provide supporters at events with our recyclable cardboard ‘clappers’ instead of plastic noise sticks.
Our branded running and cycling tops are now all made of recycled plastic, and we share a shipping container with other companies to keep the carbon cost of shipment down. We also partner with an organisation to responsibly reuse our obsolete clothing.
Informed by the experts
Kidney patients are the experts in their own experience. Everything we do with and for people living with kidney disease, is made better by co-designing it with them.
Kidney patients were central to the design of our mental health survey and our
launch on TikTok. @ttkwarrior, a kidney patient from Wales with over 60,000 followers, helped us to get started on the social media platform and supporters have provided content. @sashabellamyxx filmed a video diary in hospital after her kidney transplant, and Amanda documented her journey after donating a kidney to her son.
Diversity
We have begun our journey to becoming a Disability Confident employer by signing up to the government scheme to help us make the most of opportunities provided by employing disabled people. This means we have publicly stated our commitment to inclusive and accessible recruitment practices and support of existing employees. Establishing a diverse and inclusive approach across our work remains a priority and this is now published on our website.
As part of supporting and securing an inclusive culture at the charity we have established a staff team of Inclusion Allies. A highlight of the work was an interactive staff training session on unconscious bias, which prompted useful discussion and helped us to identify where further work is needed.
Up-skilling to lead change
We’re equipping our people with the skills and knowledge they need to spot opportunities and influence decision-making that will make a difference for patients. We improved our organisational knowledge with staff attending bespoke training on:
- NHS England’s Rapid Uptake Product programme, which identifies and removes barriers to the use of proven healthcare innovations that haven’t yet ‘caught on’.
- NICE health technology appraisals. This is the way in which decisions are made about which treatments should be available on the NHS.
- Intellectual property (IP). Understanding IP – the ownership of discoveries – is essential for getting research out of university labs and into commercial settings where new medicines or diagnostics are created.