ENHANCE
Welcome to ENHANCE
ENHANCE is a four week course designed to educate and support people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) on every step of their kidney journey.
Our ENHANCE programme aims to find people at risk of developing advanced CKD early. The team of experts leading these sessions have been conducting similar sessions with individuals in a more advanced stage of their kidney disease for years. Listening to feedback from people who felt they would have benefitted from earlier information, we have designed the ENHANCE programme.
We help people identify areas of their health, wellbeing and life that can be improved and support to them stay well. Should a time come in future when treatment, such as dialysis or transplant, is needed, attending the programme will mean they are better prepared.
Over the course of four weeks, the programme will cover: 'Understanding Chronic Kidney Disease', 'Reflection and Support', 'Exercise and Diet' and 'Managing Fatigue and Anxiety'.
Understanding Chronic Kidney Disease
The first ENHANCE session will be delivered by a CKD Specialist Nurse and will look at the role of the kidneys, what chronic kidney disease is, symptoms, common medications and what the future could look like.
Reflection and Support
This session will be delivered by a kidney social worker and will look at social work, financial and wellbeing-support. It will discuss the ways habits are created and what affects us being able to maintain good habit
Exercise and Diet
The third session, facilitated by a Physiotherapist and Dietitian, highlights the importance of exercise and a healthy diet in managing CKD. You will be given exercises to build strength and diet advice.
Fatigue and Anxiety
This session will be delivered by an occupational therapist and will explore the impact of anxiety and fatigue associated with CKD. It will provide tools to manage symptoms, promoting independence in activities of daily living. You will be given relaxation techniques to use within your daily life.
Living Well
As part of our wider programme to educate and support people with Chronic Kidney Disease we provide access to a series of interactive videos that will help you learn about CKD. At the beginning of your kidney journey, we recommend you take advantage of our 'Living Well' resource.
Check out these videos from our colleagues at Swansea Bay.
What happens after ENHANCE ?
Many people will never experience severe worsening of their CKD in their lifetimes and continue to attend clinic under the care of their clinical team where they can ask questions. We are happy for people to re-engage with ENHANCE at a later date for a refresher.
If your kidney function is getting worse, there may come a time where you will need to talk about plans for the future. A time when your own kidneys may not be able to keep you well and other treatments are needed such as transplant and dialysis.
Please click on the "My Kidney Journey" link below to see how that journey starts for our patients and how patients can choose different paths that are most suited to them.
Contact Us
We welcome any other patients (under our care) in South East Wales to contact us for more information at ckd.prehab.cav@wales.nhs.uk
In addition to the team here to support you - we have great partnerships with local organisations who we work with daily to support our patients. We recommend you look at these links and ask your CKD and ENHANCE teams to tell you more.
More information about how we support our patients with advanced CKD and the patient journey towards specific treatments for kidney failure is available here