Coronation Street is facing backlash over Carla Connor’s kidney failure storyline, with leading charity Kidney Care UK now having their say on the ongoing storyline

The UK’s leading kidney patient support charity has written to Coronation Street producers to express its disappointment at how one of the show’s character’s treatment for kidney failure is being portrayed.

Over recent weeks, fans of the ITV soap have watched as Carla Connor (played by Alison King) faces a new health battle after sepsis damaged her kidney. Carla previously received a kidney from half-brother Aidan Connor (Shayne Ward) back in 2018.

Amid the factory owner’s new kidney-related storyline, some viewers have expressed concern over how the soap is portraying Carla’s life as a patient and taken issue with just how quickly she has been able to able to consider undergoing regular dialysis treatment at home rather than at a hospital. Concerns have also been raised regarding how Carla and her loved ones are going about looking for a live donor.

Kidney Care UK, who provide practical, emotional and financial support to kidney patients and their families, has also raised its concerns about the plot. Speaking to the Mirror on Tuesday, Kidney Care UK Policy Director Fiona Loud shared the charity’s worries regarding how Carla’s storyline is playing out.

Given Coronation Street film weeks in advance prior to episodes airing, the ITV soap could struggle to make any immediate changes to scripts. Asked how the show can make changes to Carla’s storyline as quickly as possible, Mrs Loud told us: “[Coronation Street] could make it a little bit clearer how hard it is to live on dialysis and do you normally have to wait a very long time.

“In other words, [they should] try to play it in a way that shows how difficult it is to live on dialysis and highlight how long people have to wait. They could also signal-boost links to our website so if any [viewers] want to know what it’s like to live with kidney disease they can learn more.”

Kidney Care UK previously worked with Coronation Street writers seven years ago when Carla underwent her first kidney transplant. The charity has written to the ITV soap directly to voice its concern and offer advice on how to move forward with the storyline in a more realistic way.

Many Coronation Street viewers feel Carla Connor’s storyline isn’t truly authentic (Image: ITV)

The charity recently revealed in a private Facebook group for kidney patients and their families that it had written to Coronation Street. Kidney Care UK is now speaking out publicly in a bid to encourage the ITV soap to rethink the storyline.

The official statement from Kidney Care UK about the storyline, issued on Monday, reads: “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.”

The statement continues: “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.

“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.

Coronation Street bosses have been urged to amend the storyline

“We made it clear that the expediated 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.” The Mirror has approached Coronation Street for comment on this story.

Elsewhere, Coronation Street viewers on social media are divided about the storyline, with some agreeing with Kidney Care UK but others pointing out soap world operates on a different time frame.

“I think it’s been done as well as they possibly can in a soap opera.. she can’t be in the hospital for two months people wouldn’t watch a storyline that plays out that long… it’s TV,” one penned on Twitter (X), with another arguing: “I think it’s more to do with the dialysis element than the hospital element of the storyline.”

“What are the timelines? I find this in soaps all the time, timeframes are never adhered to, but then it is a soap, so they ideally couldn’t have Carla in hospital for say 6 weeks because that would stall the story,” another mused. “Raising awareness is good as long as it isn’t triggering people.”

In a three part thread, one Twitter user wrote: “I hate it when they do this in soaps. In #Corrie Carla has kidney failure. She’s been fitted for a peritoneal dialysis tube so she can dialyse every day overnight at home. She can do this for years while on the waiting list for a kidney transplant.

“But oh no she’s going to die if she doesn’t get a transplant right now. I’ve been on, as have many others, dialysis for years now. All patiently waiting on a donor. I wish @itv would be as accurate with things like this as they do with. MND and Cancer storylines. Makes me mad. They could use this to highlight how 000’s of patients every year manage dialysis /employment and everything which comes with it, for years.”

Dialysis is a procedure to remove waste products and excess fluid from the blood when the kidneys stop working properly. It often involves diverting blood to a machine to be cleaned. Normally, the kidneys filter the blood, removing harmful waste products and excess fluid and turning these into urine to be passed out of the body.