We welcome William Burlace, Clinical Pharmacist in Chronic Kidney Disease at Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria, as Multiprofessional Co-Chair of our new Primary Care Special Interest Group (SIG). He joins the Medical Co-Chair, Dr Kristin Veighey, in leading the group.

William’s experience as an independent prescriber in diabetes highlighted gaps in CKD care, particularly for underserved communities. Through his leading role in the SPOT CKD project in North East and North Cumbria, he has worked across services to improve care and helped develop a CKD guideline to reduce disparities in treatment. He also supports colleagues through education and community of practice meetings.

Dr Veighey brings experience across nephrology and general practice, with a focus on improving CKD care in the community. She helped develop the Royal College of General Practitioners’ framework for GPs with extended roles in kidney health, which supports GPs to develop additional expertise and responsibilities in this area.

The Primary Care SIG will strengthen collaboration between primary and secondary care, supporting improvements in kidney disease management. Recruitment was open to primary care colleagues across professions, including those who are not UKKA members, and their experience and priorities will shape its work.

Following a strong response to the call for expressions of interest, the group is developing its plans for 2027. Initial areas of focus include:

• Education: developing resources to support kidney disease management in primary care.
• Data and quality improvement: using data to identify opportunities for improvement and measure progress.
• Guidelines: contributing to their development, dissemination and implementation.
• Identifying unmet needs: understanding gaps in care and where closer collaboration between primary and specialist teams could help.

There will also be opportunities for the wider kidney community to contribute as projects develop.