The Introduction of RRT to the UK: The provision of RRT for the treatment of acute renal failure started in the UK during and immediately after the Second World War (1). Michael Darmady, in Wiltshire, was among the first to use hemodialysis (HD), developing his own dialyzer based on the Kolff design (2). It was considered by some clinicians to be a barbaric treatment. Pioneered by Stanley Shaldon from Royal Free Hospital and Hugh de Wardener from Charing Cross, the application of HD to chronic renal failure began in 1962 following the first meeting of the International Society of Nephrology in Evian. It was decided to establish units for HD in each region of the UK and within 3 years there were 35 units providing dialysis for chronic renal failure patients (3). Peritoneal dialysis (PD) also began at this time, in both Newcastle and Edinburgh (3,4), initially in the form of intermittent PD performed on an inpatient basis. By 1978, as catheter connection technology improved, this method had been superseded by continuous ambulatory PD (CAPD) performed in patients' own homes. The UK led the way in the field of renal transplantation in Europe at this time, having performed 138 transplants in 1969 (5) and 9054 by 1981, compared to 3432 in the Federal Republic of Germany and 1036 in Spain (6).