Kidney Care UK have slammed Coronation Street’s portrayal of Carla Connor’s (Alison King) transplant story.
Recent scenes have shown the character requiring an organ replacement as a result of suffering from sepsis complications.
She originally had a transplant seven years ago amid her alcohol addiction.
Nephew Bobby Crawford (Jack Carroll) approached his estranged murderer dad Rob Donovan (Marc Baylis) to ask him to donate a kidney to Carla, and to his surprise he agreed.
Carla was left reeling when she was told if she accepted his offer, she would have to go private – with bills mounting to £100,000 – due to the cost of keeping a prisoner in hospital.
Her girlfriend Lisa Swain’s (Vicky Myers) daughter Betsy (Sydney Martin) later offered her a lifeline, giving her half of the cash from her inheritance to pay for the treatment.
She’s since returned home in the meantime and receiving dialysis, something which Kidney Care UK have described as ‘frustrating.’
It’s not unusual for soap plots – which can often be far-fetched and stretched beyond reality – to alter timelines in court cases or medical condition plots to heighten or speed up the drama.
The charity was established in 1975 and supports people affected by kidney disease, as well as ensuring they improve their quality of life and don’t go through it alone.
Fiona Loud, Policy Director at Kidney Care UK told Metro: ‘Soap storylines are a really important opportunity to raise awareness of issues, conditions and illnesses – especially ones that there is less awareness of, such as kidney disease. This is why we’ve been happy to speak to Coronation Street both times they have run Carla’s kidney disease storyline.
‘In the UK, 8 out of 10 people waiting for a transplant are waiting for a kidney and by presenting kidney disease and kidney transplantation storylines on prime time TV there is a real opportunity to have an impact on the transplant waiting list, which is at a ten year high.
Carla was hospitalised – but has since returned home (Picture: ITV)
‘We advised the writers of Coronation Street in 2018 and took them to a transplant unit so they could learn how amazing organ donation can be.
‘We understand that soaps do have to reduce timelines in order to tell stories, but in the UK the wait for a kidney transplant is currently 2-3 years, and for some it can be much longer.
She continued: ‘It upset our community to see Carla’s transplant happen so quickly in 2018 and so when they approached us again in the summer of 2024 we provided advice as to different types of dialysis and the timelines involved between being told you would need dialysis treatment and when you may start this at home.
‘We made it clear that the expedited timeline in 2018 was not realistic, and urged them to really take care with the storytelling this time to repair some of this distress in the kidney community.
‘However this advice was not used and we are concerned that there are opportunities to make a difference in the awareness of kidney disease that could be missed, and may have a detrimental effect on the public understanding of just how serious kidney disease really is.
‘We have written to the writers again to explain our concerns. It is not too late to put this right, and we hope we can work together to help tell the true story of living with kidney disease.’
