Kidney Society Auckland, formally named "The Auckland District Kidney Society Inc." when it was formed and incorporated in 1980, started as a voluntary support organisation for the small number of Auckland and Northland kidney failure patients cared for by the renal department at Auckland Hospital. There was just the one dialysis unit in the region and kidney transplantation was in its infancy. Some patients dialysed at the Auckland unit, but home haemodialysis was encouraged as it is today. There was the usual volunteer committee, nowhere to call "home" and no paid staff, and a close working relationship existed between the renal staff on whom patients depended for their life sustaining treatment, and the committee working on patients' behalf.
Today, with renal services in the region now provided by renal services and dialysis units throughout Northland, Auckland and Manukau City and some 1300 families signed up, much has changed - but the focus is still as it was in the early days, on people with kidney failure getting on with life.