Towards a national renal register

A national renal register could become a reality in the near future, the Irish Nephrology Society Annual Scientific Meeting 2024 heard. Prof Austin Stack, Consultant Nephrologist, University Hospital Limerick, and Prof Peter Conlon, Consultant Nephrologist, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, are among the chief collaborators working towards the establishment of a national renal registry in Ireland.

They delivered a joint talk about the progress so far, as well as the importance of data input. Prof Conlon told attendees that one of the group’s primary interests was “to make better use of eMED [national renal database]” in order to produce a “renal registry-type report”.

He emphasised to delegates the need “to use eMED more” and to input “a few key parameters”, before acknowledging the efforts of key contributors, including Dr Colm Henry and Dr Conor Judge, and outlining the group’s goals and achievements to date. “We have a lot of infrastructure to deliver on this and to produce reports that assess quality-of-care and feed that back, much like a renal registry does, and to do research,” Prof Conlon said.

In his address, Prof Stack added that “huge momentum has gathered over the last six months”, and a “really strong team” has been established. He also emphasised the value of having a “single national platform [eMED] in every renal unit in Ireland”, unlike many other countries, and reinforced Prof Conlon’s message of prioritising accurate data input. Prof Stack then presented eMED data from the haemodialysis population from 2012 to 2022 to demonstrate the level and impact of missing information. “It’s not bad,” he said about the data input level, “but we want 100 per cent capture.”

“I think we need to look at this data because we now hold an opportunity to deal with and manage it.… The data quality component is an ongoing, cyclical, sustainable kind of event…. The call today is ‘buy in and support at a local and national level’.”