How Many People Are on Dialysis in the UK?

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Taken during the pandemic lockdown, showing appreciate to the NHS.

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How many people are on dialysis in the UK?

About 31,000.

This is out of approximately 73,000 patients with ESKF (on dialysis or with a kidney transplant) in the UK – and about 8600 new patients per year.

This equates to:

A prevalence of 1340 patients pmp (per million population)
- I.e. about 1 in 750 people. This makes it quite rare. And most GPs (with roughly 2000 patients each on their books) will be looking after about 3 patients on dialysis or with a kidney transplant. Not many. This is why their care should largely be led by hospital based kidney doctors (nephrologists) and nurses
An incidence of about 160 new patients pmp per year.

Of those, about 42,000 (55%) are transplanted.

But 31,000 (45%) are not, and dependent on (1) thrice weekly 4 hour (usually) sessions of hemodialysis, or (2) peritoneal dialysis (PD).

Both types of dialysis are life-limiting treatments with a 50% mortality at 5 years (an outlook worse than most types of cancer). Median survival is 5 years from the start of dialysis.

Cost of dialysis vs kidney transplant

In the UK, the NHS spent £1.05 billion on dialysis in 2023, with an estimated cost of £34,000 per patient annually.

Dialysis costs alot more than a kidney transplant. The first year after a kidney transplant costs the NHS around £17,000, with subsequent years costing approximately £5,000 annually for immunosuppressant drugs and care.