Having diabetes increases your risk of cardiovascular disease, eye disease and kidney disease. With regular checks you can reduce the risk of any of these complications.
We are therefore excited to inform you of a new service at Grovelands Medical Centre that will allow patients with diabetes to test their kidney function from home.
As you know, as part of your diabetes annual review, you should have a simple urine test. This test looks at your urinary albumin:creatinine ratio (ACR). The ACR test checks your kidney function by looking for particles of protein in your urine called albumin. If there is albumin in your urine, this means you are at increased risk of kidney disease and heart disease. If this is picked up at an early stage, you can be put on medication that will reduce your risk of any complications.
To help you perform this test, we are working with a company called Healthy.io, who provide a Minuteful Kidney urine test kit and an accompanying free-to-download app that allows people to do the test at home. The test is really easy to do and only requires a smartphone and a kit that will be sent to your home.
Healthy.io will be contacting you in the next few weeks to get your kit sent to you. To find out more about kidney disease or the test, see here: www.lp.healthy.io/minuteful_info/.