New kidney treatment guidelines announced by NICE

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a new guideline that will aim to aid the prevention, detection and treatment of acute kidney injury.

Intended to address a current lack of education about the condition among healthcare workers, the guideline recommends that the treatment be tackled by people working in health across all specialties, from chief executives to healthcare assistants, rather than only renal unit staff.

The condition affects one in six people who are admitted to hospital and although it is completely preventable, it can lead to death in one-quarter of cases.

Currently, the NHS spends between 434 and 620 million pounds on treating the problem – more than breast cancer or lung and skin cancer combined – meaning the new guidelines could help to save lives and free up NHS resources.

Professor Mark Baker, director of the Centre for Clinical Practice at NICE, said: "This new NICE guideline aims to raise awareness among healthcare professionals to recognise and treat the condition early and focuses on prevention, recognition, treatment and timely access to specialist services for all."

This comes after NICE opened a public consultation on a planned update of its guidelines on the care and management of osteoarthritis in adults earlier this month.