Volume 2, Number 3, July-August-September 2009

Chronic kidney disease, estimated glomerular filtration rate and the Quality and Outcomes Framework: a survey of GPs in the UK
Ian John, Natasha McIntrye, Nicola Thomas on behalf of the CKD Forum

Objective: To determine the impact of recent initiatives in chronic kidney disease (CKD) management and GPs’ attitudes to the changes.
Participants: 1,000 randomly selected general practices in each of the ten Strategic Health Authorities in England.
Method: A one-shot, postal questionnaire was sent to each practice.
Results: The median prevalence of CKD in individual practices was 3.3%. The majority of GPs recognised CKD as an important health problem and considered that using eGFR provides a good measure of kidney function and that eGFR reporting has led to an improvement in patient care. Most GPs felt that testing for proteinuria should be included in the QOF, however some found the terminology confusing, particularly the distinction between albumin-creatinine ratios and protein-creatinine ratios. More than 80% of survey respondents said they use CKD guidelines in their practice. Only 50% of GPs responding to the survey felt that they had received sufficient education about CKD.
Conclusions: The survey shows general support by GPs for the recent changes in CKD diagnosis and management. However, it revealed a need for more primary care focussed educational initiatives in this area.
Keywords: chronic kidney disease; primary care; guideline

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