Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking with NHS trusts to ensure patients with chronic kidney disease receiving haemodialysis treatment at home are reimbursed for the energy costs incurred from operating the dialysis equipment.

Provisions are in place for patients receiving haemodialysis treatment at home to be reimbursed for additional direct energy costs as a result of their treatment. NHS England meets these additional direct utility costs through the payment of the national tariff to the patient’s usual dialysis provider. The amount reimbursed by the the patient’s provider is expected to match increases in energy unit prices.

There is no nationally set price for home haemodialysis and providers and commissioners should agree the appropriate level of funding locally. However, the tariff contains Best Practice Tariff prices for adult renal dialysis, which includes prices for home haemodialysis. In the 2022/23 tariff, the Best Practice price is expected to cover the direct additional utility costs incurred by the patient. NHS England is promoting awareness of these arrangements directly to all commissioned providers and renal clinical networks to alert eligible patients that reimbursements are available.