Table 4.

Categories relating to the acceptability of IDC and illustrative quotes

A safe and positive use of HD treatment time

‘Yes, I found it useful. It made me do some exercise instead of just laying here drinking tea and watching TV, doing jigsaw puzzles’. (Male, mildly frail) ‘They bring the bike but first they test you…whether you’re safe to do it and all that.’ (Female, mildly frail)

Limited scope and uncertain impact of IDC

‘We did cycling, and that was no choice because that’s the only exercise we can do with our legs. You can’t do sit-ups or stand-ups while you are lying down because you’ve got this thing (HD) going on’ (Male, moderately frail) ‘I thought maybe it helps, I get rid of some problems or maybe you know I am not walking too much…so I say maybe if I do start cycling…you know I can walk…but nothing happened, no nothing’. (Male, severely frail). ‘My legs have become stronger, they were wobbly…it’s more sturdy now than before. Yet I still have the falls, that I cannot help. But my legs are stronger than they were. I am a bit more agile than I used to be’. (Male, moderately frail) ‘It was fine, it was ok, I got on with it. I used to have a laugh but then eventually my knees were just so painful then my (blood) pressure played up a bit’. (Female, vulnerable) ‘Blood pressure was coming down. I used to take medication for the blood pressure now I don’t take it’. (Male, vulnerable)

HD, haemodialysis; IDC, intradialytic cycling.