The Development of an Empowered Renal Multidisciplinary Team
Louise Wells, Lead Specialist Renal Dietician, York Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust
‘Patients with renal disease require the management and support of many different healthcare
professionals and social services agencies throughout their renal journey’.
- The Renal Team – A Multi-Professional Renal Workforce Plan: 2002.
Renal disease management has always required input from different healthcare professions, but
over time the number of professions involved has grown in size and diversity, and practitioners
working as individuals have merged into what we now recognise as the Renal Multidisciplinary
Team; developing and delivering services together to ensure best practice in patient care.
An empowered multidisciplinary team is greater than the sum of its parts and good leadership is
central to good team working. Innovative, cohesive, supportive, effective health and social care
teams can improve patient experience and outcomes.
This lecture will reflect on some of the factors that support multiprofessional leadership and the
development of an empowered multidisciplinary team. It will discuss how this has enhanced renal
patient care and, as renal teams respond to the challenges of a busy, changing NHS, offer some
thoughts as to how we can continue to maintain our quality, our development and our shared
perspective.