Case Studies

Our Brief

People who suffer from kidney disease do significantly better when they understand their condition. The Kidney Patient Guide is an experiment, funded by an award from the Wellcome Trust, in delivering high quality online support, including information, to the people affected by chronic disease.

Our Role

Consultants, Designers, Producers and Operators

What We Did

The project started 1998 and went live in 1999. It has been in operation continuously since then.

To build the site we worked closely with the team at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital led by Dr Peter Rutherford, and with healthcare consultants, Tom Bowen and Paul Forte from the Balance of Care Group.

To develop the content we worked closely with Dr Rutherford, his colleagues and the patients and their families who attend his clinic. During the course of the work we made important discoveries about the role that online resources can play in helping people with chronic conditions (and their families who are also affected). Specialist editing for the site’s content was provided by Al Brooks.

The Results

The site has now been running for more than seven years, maintained by Cogapp on a pro-bono basis. It serves hundreds of thousands of people each year whose lives are affected by kidney disease.

In March 2003 the animations from the site were used as part of a US court case.

There are more than 1,000 subscribers to the bulletin board which is moderated by an active team of volunteers.

In August 2006 the regular subscribers to the bulletin board spontaneously organised a party to celebrate their affiliation and provide an opportunity to meet face-to-face offline.

Cogapp maintains the Kidney Patient Guide on a pro-bono basis.

The Kidney Patient Guide supports the Health on the Net Foundation's HONcode for online health information.

What They Said

'The site has helped me to find some answers for my father. Thanks!!!'
JW 2001-04-15

'It was wonderful to find a simple web page that explains things in English!'
PB 2001-03-26

'It was very informative and the animation was excellent for hemodialysis.'
AL 2003-07-17

'excellent haemodialysis animation'
SJ 2003-01-14

'I absolutely love the animations on your Kidney Patient Guide website. I am an interventional radiologist who specializes in vascular access.'
TV 2001-10-07

'I am a PD Doctor and liked your site very much. It is very user-friendly and I have advised some of my patients to visit it.'
AR 2006-09-27

'We have a link to the Kidney Patient Guide as I found it a really useful site when I first discovered that I would be needing dialysis.'
BR 2006-06-23

'Thank you at last I have found a web site that is easy to read to help me support my mother in law with renal failure.'
DD 2005-06-19