Retired Sunderland physio with kidney disease helps others keep fit even when she's on dialysis

Amanda Wardle with fellow kidney patient Janice Thompson
-Credit:South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS


A Sunderland Royal patient with kidney failure is helping others by using her skills as a physio to get fellow patients moving.

Amanda Wardle worked at the hospital as a children's physiotherapist until her retirement. Now as a patient herself she has to go back to the Kayll Road hospital three times a week for four-hour long dialysis sessions.

East Boldon's Amanda has used her expertise to support the South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Trust's team which is taking part in a study run by the app Kidney Beam. The app is designed to help those with kidney disease "feel good through movement, education and wellbeing support".

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The study has ten patients so far. Amanda has assisted Research Nurse Jennifer Henderson, Consultant Nephrologist Dr Rebecca Ryan and Specialist Kidney Dietitian Aisling Barrett and helped to support other patients.

She said: "We are very grateful for the support and help of the nursing staff in the Renal Unit, they have been so encouraging. The Beam app is really useful to help people with their lifestyle and live well. When we’re having our dialysis, we’re often sat for quite a while, so we’ve been working to gradually increase our movement. We’ve adapted things and built on it from there.

Sunderland Royal staff Jenny Henderson and Aisling Barrett with kidney patient and retired physio Amanda Wardle
Sunderland Royal staff Jenny Henderson and Aisling Barrett with kidney patient and retired physio Amanda Wardle -Credit:South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS

"It’s been a big help to improve circulation, build our leg strength and our flexibility and co-ordination. I think the benefits we’ve all seen have been positive and it’s also helped people be more confident."

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Amanda has been given a special certificate and flowers in recognition of her help. She said: "The presentation was totally unexpected and so kind of the team. I hope I have made a difference."

Dietitian Aisling is the Trust’s Kidney Beam Champion. She added: “We want to say a big thank you to Amanda for encouraging and supporting patients in completing their exercises and taking charge of the exercise sessions on the unit.

“She’s also taken the time to give us valuable feedback on how we could develop and promote exercise on dialysis from a patient perspective and used her knowledge of the area. We’re very grateful."

Aisling said other patients had shared "very positive" feedback about the benefits they'd experienced - adding: "They’ve found it’s reduced aches and pains, helped them have better mental health and they’ve gained confidence in exercising.

“Amanda has also taken the time before her dialysis session to support one of the patients who is registered blind. She helped them with the movements and gave them tips on how to do these at home. We have had feedback from the nursing team on the positive vibe the exercise sessions bring and how they help the patients to pass time on dialysis.

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“We are now working towards getting some more exercise equipment in the units to help increase the variety of exercises the dialysis patients can do."

Find out more about support for those with kidney disease here.