AHSN Impact Report 2021 | Page 39

Setting up home urinary ACR testing in our practice has been incredibly simple and easy . So far it ’ s allowed us to engage with harder-to-reach patients and overall has really increased uptake of ACR testing , quickly identifying people who are at risk so we can follow-up .”
Dr Sab Gogna , GP , Fountain Medical Centre

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Setting up home urinary ACR testing in our practice has been incredibly simple and easy . So far it ’ s allowed us to engage with harder-to-reach patients and overall has really increased uptake of ACR testing , quickly identifying people who are at risk so we can follow-up .”
Dr Sab Gogna , GP , Fountain Medical Centre
like the risk of developing chronic kidney disease ( CKD ), yet the annual diabetes audit still shows that the care process with the lowest uptake is the urinary albumin test .
The test measures the albumin to creatinine ratio ( ACR ) and is used to monitor kidney health . While the test is clinically critical , 60 % of people living with diabetes do not engage in the care process through the traditional models of care . This has worsened during the COVID pandemic with only 16 % of people living with diabetes undertaking their urine test from January to September 2020 .
This low uptake means CKD can be missed until it becomes symptomatic and much more serious for people ’ s health . But we are turning that around in Yorkshire and the Humber by giving people with diabetes the opportunity to complete the urine test themselves at home , without the need for an appointment at the GP surgery .
We pioneered this in 2018 in Hull , Airedale and Wharfedale – enabling 500 patients with diabetes , across ten Modality Partnership GP practices , to test their own kidney health from home using our ACR test kit and smartphone app .
An independent evaluation of this work commissioned by the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN showed the NHS could save £ 209m in care costs over five years by adopting the model nationally for people living with diabetes . Furthermore , testing other at-risk groups , like people with hypertension , could save £ 660m in total .
Some of the impacts from the work with Leeds CCG :

2000 patients contacted

1200 patients agreed to be sent the test

Impact Report 2020-21 33