Kidney Patient Guide wins Freshest Not for Profit Award
October 2009

The Kidney Patient Guide (KPG) – the online discussion forum and information hub for sufferers of kidney disease, their families and support networks - has won the prestigious Freshest Digital Not for Profit Gold Award at the Fresh Digital Awards.

The KPG was acknowledged at the awards ceremony at The Printworks, Manchester on Wednesday 30 September, winning the Not for Profit category against tough competition. It was recognised for the real impact it has on the audience, its prevalence throughout the kidney patient community and the help, advice and a sense of kinship it has helped develop.

Initially funded via the Wellcome Trust and created by Dr Peter Rutherford, the Balance of Care Group (healthcare consultants) and Cogapp, the site launched in 1999 and has been maintained by Cogapp on a pro-bono basis ever since. It serves as a central port of call for everything about kidney disease including its effects and treatment methods. The pioneering online discussion forum, which was one of the earliest of its kind in social networking, enables people to share experiences, feelings and relevant information with other forum members - it has nearly 35,000 posts relating to 4,000 topics to date. The site was recently overhauled with improved navigation and a new design to increase user engagement.

Rachael Rainbow, Cogapp production director, commented: “The growing popularity of the Kidney Patient Guide and its support networks have been reward enough, but it’s a real added bonus to have the concept and design acknowledged by our digital industry peers.” 

The Fresh Digital and Media Awards produced in association with Campaign and MediaWeek to acknowledge the most innovative and impressive projects from the digital and media worlds. We are delighted to have won the award, and hope the accolade will help the KPG reach and give support to kidney disease sufferers previously unaware of its service.