Kidney and diabetes experts will be on hand in Bradford’s Kirkgate Centre tomorrow as part of a health promotion event to mark World Kidney Day.

This year the focus of the campaign is diabetes, the leading cause of chronic kidney disease in this country.

The renal and diabetes team at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will be at the shopping centre between 10am and 4pm.

Nurses and dieticians will give advice on diet and exercise, as well as checking blood pressure, weight and blood sugar levels.

Diabetes specialist nurse Gill Atherton said: “We want to show people that good sugar and blood pressure control can prevent complications and slow down the rate of deterioration of the kidneys.

“Long-term poor control damages kidneys. It is well known that diabetes is the commonest reason for patients developing kidney failure and so needing dialysis treatment or a kidney transplant.

“If people are worried about diabetes we would ask them to come along to our information session where we can carry out simple tests and, if needs be, write referral letters to GPs.”

There are 93 people in Bradford waiting for a kidney transplant. Each year the trust sees about 2,500 diabetic patients, while more than 25,000 people across the city suffer from the condition.

Andrew Taylor, of Shipley, who has suffered from diabetes for more than 40 years, is one such patient and he will be on hand in the Kirkgate Centre to speak to people about the condition.

Mr Taylor, 47, who is unable to work but whose condition does not yet need dialysis, said: “I was diagnosed shortly before my fourth birthday with type 1 diabetes and was showing all the classic symptoms like drinking a lot and tiredness.

“Over the years, diabetes has impacted on me in different ways from needing treatment for my eyes to developing high blood pressure in my early 20s. Now I have kidney problems and will end up having a transplant.

“When I was first diagnosed people didn’t live to 50 but, over the years, there’s been incredible advancements in the treatment and I am living proof of that.”

Dr John Stoves, a consultant in kidney care, said: “ It is very important to be able to diagnose diabetes at a very early stage. We hope our World Kidney Day activities will raise the profile of this very common condition.”