Cohort 3

Sharlene Greenwood

  • Consultant Physiotherapist
  • King's College Hospital NHS Trust
  • @sharleneuk
  • 2022

In my 12 months as a Topol Digital Fellow I will gather and provide the required evidence for Kidney Beam, a physical and emotional wellbeing digital health intervention for people living with kidney disease, to be commissioned by the NHS.

Digital intervention to support the wellbeing of people with kidney disease

My Topol fellowship problem / project:

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in the use of digital technology, and this led to my team rapidly co-designing, developing and rolling-out a kidney-specific physical and emotional wellbeing platform, Kidney Beam. The Kidney Beam programme is a multi-faceted digital intervention package, which is composed of online live and on- demand exercise training videos; careful selection of healthcare professional and patient champions; use of email feedback, action planning; and online educational videos and blogs.

I would like to use the time, skills, connections and mentorship afforded by the TOPOL Digital Health Fellowship to learn about, complete, and deliver the necessary NHSX requirements to gain adoption of the project by NHS England (to be delivered across  the 16 regional renal networks that are aligned with the emerging integrated care systems), and to be able to combine the emerging evidence we anticipate from our randomised controlled trial with this, to deliver Kidney Beam as part of commissioned care for people living with kidney disease. I believe there is a real opportunity to change care at a systems level and would be delighted to achieve this as part of the TOPOL Digital Health Fellowship.

Sharlene Greenwood is a Consultant Physiotherapist at King’s College Hospital and a Honorary Reader in Exercise and Lifestyle Medicine at King’s College London. She co-chairs the UK Kidney Research Consortium and is the President of the UK Kidney Association. Sharlene has worked with people living with kidney disease for over 15 years, mostly designing and evaluating different ways to motivate people to be more active. Most recently, Sharlene led on the development of Kidney Beam www.beamfeelgood.com, a novel digital platform that was rapidly developed to help people living with kidney disease  manage  their physical and emotional wellbeing during the COVID pandemic and beyond. Sharlene leads one of the only commissioned renal exercise services in the UK, which includes renal rehabilitation, weight management, and specialist kidney transplant exercise clinics.