Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health

Renal Statewide Clinical Network

About the network

The Renal Statewide Clinical Network (SCN) guides system-wide coordination and improvement efforts to enhance renal care across South Australia.

We connect clinicians, consumers and partner organisations across metropolitan, regional and remote services to support consistent care at all stages of renal treatment, including dialysis, kidney transplantation and severe chronic kidney disease.

By working across Local Health Networks (LHNs) and sectors, the Renal SCN supports a coordinated, statewide approach to renal care. We use data and evidence to improve health outcomes and equity of access, reduce unwarranted variation and support continuous improvement.

Our role

  • Define best‑practice models of renal care, including dialysis, kidney transplantation and severe chronic kidney disease.
  • Develop and promote consistent renal care pathways, protocols and standards across LHNs.
  • Monitor and analyse renal data to identify variation, trends, risks and opportunities for improvement across SA Health.
  • Support clinicians to apply national guidelines and the latest evidence in everyday practice.
  • Identify system gaps, service pressures and emerging issues in renal care, and provide advice for statewide improvement.

Our focus

  • Improving safety, quality and consumer outcomes across the full renal care journey, from early disease management through to dialysis and transplantation.
  • Reducing unwarranted variation in renal care and outcomes across metropolitan, regional and remote South Australia.
  • Improving equitable access to renal services for priority populations, including those in rural and remote communities, Aboriginal peoples and other groups disproportionately affected by kidney disease.

Our peo­ple

Professor Stephen McDonald

Renal Statewide Clinical Network Lead

Pro­fes­sor Stephen McDon­ald is a nephrol­o­gist and clin­i­cian-researcher. He is cur­rent­ly Direc­tor of the Ade­laide Cen­tre for Clin­i­cal Epi­demi­ol­o­gy, staff nephrol­o­gist at the Roy­al Ade­laide Hos­pi­tal and Clin­i­cal Lead for Coun­try Renal Ser­vices for South Aus­tralia. His clin­i­cal prac­tice spans all areas of nephrol­o­gy and kid­ney transplantation. 

Stephen is the Clin­i­cal Lead of the Renal Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work, is Exec­u­tive Offi­cer of the Aus­tralia and New Zealand Dial­y­sis and Trans­plant Reg­istry, and co-chairs the Nation­al Indige­nous Kid­ney Trans­plant Task­force. He is a founder and aca­d­e­m­ic co-lead of SAHM­RI Reg­istries and sits on sev­er­al relat­ed gov­ern­ment committees.

His research inter­ests cen­tre around the epi­demi­ol­o­gy of renal dis­ease and the use of Reg­istry data to exam­ine access to and out­comes of health care. Catalysing change and improve­ment in dial­y­sis and trans­plan­ta­tion has been a par­tic­u­lar focus. 

He has pub­lished over 300 papers and received mul­ti­ple research awards. In 2025 he was made a Mem­ber of the Order of Aus­tralia for ser­vices to nephrology. 

Sub groups
  • Renal Guide­lines Sub-Committee
  • Dial­y­sis Demand Sub-Committee

Our work

  • Clin­i­cal guide­lines – devel­op­ment of Statewide Clin­i­cal Guide­lines for renal services
  • Dial­y­sis demand – pro­jec­tions and capac­i­ty; esca­la­tion pathways
  • Work­force – iden­ti­fy­ing demand and capac­i­ty across nurs­ing, med­ical and allied health workforce
  • Util­is­ing data to dri­ve improve­ment in clin­i­cal path­ways for dial­y­sis and transplantation
  • Cul­tur­al­ly safe care path­ways for Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ple receiv­ing dialysis. 

SA Dial­y­sis activ­i­ty data dash­board report

The fol­low­ing report sum­maris­es month­ly haemodial­y­sis capac­i­ty and wait­ing lists in South Aus­tralia. This data sup­ports the oper­a­tional con­sid­er­a­tions of South Australia’s renal units and the place­ment of haemodial­y­sis patients, as well as assists with statewide ser­vice planning.

Key documents and resources

Get involved

To learn more or get involved in the Renal Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work email CEIH.​Renal@​sa.​gov.​au.