Former footballer Andy Cole says he is “very surprised” that tackling kidney disease is “not a priority already” for the government. The ex-Manchester United and England star suffered kidney failure in 2014 and underwent a transplant in 2017 with his nephew as the donor. A new report from Kidney Research UK says kidney disease is a public health emergency which costs the UK economy £7 billion a year and could rise to £13.9 billion in ten years. There are an estimated 7.19 million people in the UK currently living with chronic kidney disease.