Coronation Street has sparked backlash from a leading kidney charity regarding its Carla Connor storyline.

The character, who previously received a kidney transplant in 2018, recently contracted sepsis that spread to her kidney.

However, the ITV soap has attracted criticism over some aspects of the story, notably how quickly Carla was able undergo dialysis at home rather than hospital, as well as how they’re looking for a donor.

Speaking to The Mirror, Kidney Care UK’s policy director Fiona Loud vocalised concerns with how the soap is approaching the storyline.

“[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,” Loud said. “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.”

In a previous statement, the charity pointed out that soap storylines serve as an important opportunity to share the reality of many illnesses.

“This is why we’ve been happy to speak to Coronation Street both times they have run Carla’s kidney disease storyline,” it said.

“In the UK, eight 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 10 year high.”

The charity further noted its previous work with the soap in 2018 and shared, while it understands that soaps have to “reduce timelines” for storylines, a lot of people hoping for a transplant in the UK could wait three years or more.

“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,” the statement added.

Kidney Care UK said it had “made it clear that the expedited timeline in 2018 was not realistic” and “urged [Coronation Street] 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,” it continued.