Kidney disease is common, and pharmacy technicians have a role to play in supporting and educating patients to help keep their kidneys healthy, including keeping hydrated, as well as educating people on what the kidneys do. According to a survey of the general public undertaken in 2014 by Ipsos Mori, only half of people know that their kidneys make urine.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects around one in six people – that’s around six million people in England. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is estimated to affect around one in five patients admitted to hospital and about 65 per cent of AKIs start in the community.

Community pharmacy technicians are therefore likely to provide care to people who are at risk of or have a degree of renal impairment. Medicines are likely to be the focus of discussions and these can sometimes be complex. It can be easy to become immersed in the patient’s list of medicines and so it is important to remember that the patient, rather than their medicines, should be the focus of care.