Publish date: 30 April 2025
We are proud to share that Cathy Pogson, one of our Kidney Pharmacists at Queen Alexandra Hospital, has been awarded a £290,000 Allied Health Professional Fellowship, funded by Kidney Research UK, Pharmacy Research UK and the UK Kidney Association.
This important fellowship will support Cathy in developing a new medication review system for patients with reduced kidney function. Cathy said: “Some patients often take many different medicines, which can sometimes cause harm or become difficult to manage.
“From discussions I’ve had with patients and their relatives/carers, and the research I have done previously, there is a gap in the current service provision.
“Medication reviews are done in GP surgeries by pharmacists, however a more specialist service could be far more beneficial to patients and build trust, as some patients are avoiding these reviews because the knowledge is not specialist enough.”
Cathy’s project aims to change this. She’ll be working with kidney doctors and pharmacists to design a medication review tailored specifically for people with chronic kidney disease (CKD). She’ll also involve patients and carers every step of the way, recognising that they are the true experts on how medications affect their daily lives.
Over the coming months, Cathy will focus on patients whose kidney function has dropped below 30% and who are taking 14 or more different medicines each day. These patients will be invited to take part in a review to look at the number of medicines they take, how it affects their quality of life and how they feel about their treatment.
The aim is to improve safety and reduce harm from medicines, minimise the burden of taking many medicines and improve quality of life. If this review is shown to be effective, it could also inform future studies to trial the review widely across different hospitals.
Cathy continued: “For people who take lots of medicines, called polypharmacy, it is important they know what the important medicines are, and that people are supported to take their medicines as intended.”
Cathy would love to hear from anyone living with chronic kidney disease, who takes a number of medicines and is cared for by the kidney team at PHU.
To contact Cathy, please email: cathy.