COVID 19 rapid guideline: renal transplantation

Excerpt

This guideline covers children, young people and adults who need or who have had a kidney transplant, and people who are donating a kidney (live donors). It also advises transplant and referring centres on how to run their services while keeping them safe for patients, donors and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kidney transplants improve life expectancy and quality of life, and cost less than dialysis in the long term, so providing effective and safe services will benefit patients and make the best use of resources.

On 19 August 2020, we added recommendations for regional networks on responding to changes in local prevalence of COVID-19. We aligned recommendations for donors and recipients with our COVID-19 guideline on arranging planned care in hospitals and diagnostic services.

NICE has also produced COVID-19 rapid guidelines on chronic kidney disease and dialysis service delivery.

Follow the usual professional guidelines, standards and laws (including those on equalities, safeguarding, communication and mental capacity), as described in making decisions using NICE guidelines.

This guideline is for:

1. health and care practitioners

2. health and care staff involved in planning and delivering services

3. commissioners

The recommendations bring together:

1. existing national and international guidance and policies

2. advice from specialists working in the NHS from across the UK. These include people with expertise and experience of treating patients for the specific health conditions covered by the guidance during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

We developed this guideline using the interim process and methods for developing rapid guidelines on COVID-19 in response to the rapidly evolving situation. We will review and update the recommendations as the knowledge base develops using the interim process and methods for guidelines developed in response to health and social care emergencies.