Early & Integrated CKD Knowledge Hub

Boehringer Ingelheim has provided funding towards this education, training, and mentorship programme. Boehringer Ingelheim has had no editorial input into or influence on the agenda or content of the programme, including any supporting materials, and has not been involved in the selection of speakers, trainers, or mentors.
overview
The Early & Integrated CKD Knowledge Hub brings together practical education, data, and quality improvement resources to support earlier detection and more joined-up management of chronic kidney disease (CKD) across the UK.

Designed for primary care teams, specialists with an interest in integrated CKD quality improvement, commissioners, and system leaders, the Hub signposts to role-specific e-learning, quick reference guides, national data dashboards, project mapping, and recordings from knowledge-exchange events focused on real-world implementation.

Together, these resources support prevention, risk stratification, medicines optimisation, and collaboration between primary and specialist services to reduce unwarranted variation, tackle health inequalities, and embed kidney health within wider cardiovascular prevention and population health strategies.
  • E-Learning courses
  • Quick reference guide
  • Quality improvement dashboards
  • Quality improvement map
  • Meeting recordings
  • Links to additional resources

Date of preparation: February 2026

E-Learning for primary care

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects around 1 in 10 UK adults and is associated with substantially increased risks of cardiovascular disease, kidney failure, and premature mortality. Preventing CKD, detecting it early, and managing it well helps people live longer, healthier lives while reducing long-term system impact.

Most people with or at risk of CKD are managed entirely in primary care. Our suite of courses is tailored to different professional roles, providing the knowledge and practical tools to help each audience best support patients across the CKD pathway.

CKD for Primary Care: Supporting people with CKD (non-prescribing)

~ 1 hour

A practical course for non-prescribing nurses, non-registered healthcare staff, and others who are supporting people with chronic kidney disease in primary care and community settings.

The course focuses on understanding CKD, making sense of kidney tests (eGFR and urine ACR), and explaining why prevention, monitoring, and treatment matter — even when people feel well. It covers how kidney, heart, and metabolic conditions are linked, why CKD progresses differently, and when concerns should be escalated.

You’ll gain confidence in supporting people with or at risk of developing CKD, reinforcing consistent messages, and working within the wider care team.

CKD for Primary Care: Practical Prescribing Foundations

~ 1 hour

A focused, action-oriented course for busy clinicians who want clear guidance on what to do in everyday practice.

This course delivers step-by-step, evidence-based prescribing and medicines optimisation for CKD from prevention through referral, with an emphasis on reducing cardiovascular risk, slowing kidney decline, and managing complications safely.

You’ll leave with practical treatment pathways, prescribing priorities, and clinical next steps you can apply immediately.

CKD for Primary Care: A Special Interest in Kidney Health

~ 4 hours

A comprehensive course for clinicians who want to deepen their understanding of chronic kidney disease and strengthen their clinical reasoning in everyday practice.

This course builds on practical prescribing and medicines optimisation, adding deeper explanations of kidney physiology and how CKD interacts with cardiovascular and metabolic disease. You’ll explore why specific interventions matter, how CKD progresses differently between individuals, and how earlier, more consistent management can change long-term outcomes.

You’ll develop a stronger understanding of CKD and cardio-kidney-metabolic pathways, and how treatment decisions translate into kidney protection, reduced cardiovascular risk, and safer ongoing care.

Quick reference guide

This quick reference guide summarises key points from the CKD learning, supporting rapid recall in day-to-day practice. It also signposts to further resources for more detail and supporting evidence.

Download our CKD quick reference guide

Data dashboards and QI project map

UK-wide CKD QI project map:

There’s a great deal of quality improvement (QI) work happening across the UK in early and integrated CKD.


If you’re planning a QI project — whether that’s developing an integrated CKD clinic, implementing KFRE, or strengthening CKD education — it can be helpful to connect with others who have done similar work.


Our interactive project map shows the current CKD QI landscape across the UK, and we can help link you with project leads so you can learn from their experience and build on what’s already working. Please email the UKKA if you'd like to get in touch with the project leads for anything on the map.

The above image is a screenshot of the CKD QI Map.
Click here to launch the interactive version.

Are you running an integrated CKD project, early CKD education initiative, or a KFRE implementation project that is not yet listed?

We'd love to hear about it! Please use the button to the right to share your project details and help us build a clearer picture of CKD improvement work happening across the UK.

Data dashboard for England:

CVD PREVENT brings together routinely available data from England to support improvement in cardiovascular and kidney health. Its dashboard includes several CKD-relevant indicators spanning detection, monitoring, and treatment, allowing users to explore variation at practice, PCN, ICB, and regional level.


These measures help highlight opportunities to improve CKD identification, strengthen routine monitoring (eGFR and urine ACR), and optimise treatment for people at higher kidney and cardiovascular risk — including blood pressure control, renin–angiotensin system blockade, and lipid lowering therapy.


Together, these indicators can support local quality improvement by helping teams understand their current position, identify gaps in care, and track progress over time while more CKD-specific national insight tools are in development.

Relevant indicators are the following:

  • CVDP002CKD: Patients whose last two eGFRs are less than 60ml/min/1.73m2 (uncoded CKD), who do not have a record of GP recorded CKD (G3a to G5)
  • CVDP003CKD: Patients whose last single eGFR is less than 60ml/min/1.73m2 (at risk of CKD), who do not have a record of GP recorded CKD (G3a to G5)
  • CVDP004CKD: Patients with GP recorded CKD (G3a to G5) with a record of a urine ACR test in the preceding 12 months
  • CVDP006CKD: Patients with GP recorded CKD (G3a to G5), with a record of an eGFR test in the preceding 12 months.
  • CVDP005CKD: Patients with GP recorded CKD (G3a to G5) and hypertension and proteinuria, who are currently treated with renin-angiotensin system antagonists
  • CVDP007CKD: Patients with GP recorded CKD (G3a to G5) with an ACR of less than 70 mg/mmol, whose last blood pressure reading is to the appropriate treatment threshold.
  • CVDP009HYP: Patients with GP recorded hypertension, with a record of a urine ACR test in the preceding 12 months.
  • CVDP010CHOL: Patients with GP recorded chronic kidney disease (G3a to G5), who are currently treated with lipid lowering therapy.
  • CVDP002HF: Patients with GP recorded heart failure, with a record of an eGFR test in the preceding 6 months.


The CKD National Insight Dashboard brings together routinely available data to support quality improvement in early and integrated CKD care in England, from detection and monitoring to treatment with kidney-protective therapies. It allows users to explore variation at national, regional, ICB, and PCN level, helping identify opportunities for improvement and track progress over time. 

Alongside the dashboard, we are developing a UK-wide project map to showcase and connect integrated CKD projects, KFRE laboratory implementation initiatives, and CKD education projects.

Together, these tools are intended to support shared learning, spread good practice, and strengthen collaboration across the CKD community.

Meeting recordings

This section brings together recordings from workshops, webinars, and knowledge-exchange meetings delivered as part of the Early CKD programme. These sessions focus on commissioning, system leadership, and practical implementation of early CKD identification and management in primary care, supporting shared learning across ICBs, PCNs, and kidney teams.

Write your awesome label here.

The Big Kidney Conversation:
Improving early diagnosis of kidney disease in rural and coastal communities

This recorded half-day event brings together commissioners, clinicians, and system partners to explore how earlier detection of CKD can improve outcomes and reduce inequalities.

Through short talks, case studies, and a collaborative workshop, the session focuses on embedding kidney health within broader cardiovascular prevention strategies, with a particular lens on rural and coastal communities.
Write your awesome label here.

West Yorkshire

Text
Write your awesome label here.

North East and North Cumbria or Bristol

Text
Write your awesome label here.

Birmingham or Manchester or Liverpool

Text

Additional resources

Information for patients and carers

Guidelines and guidance

Quality improvement

Tools and education