Not enough sleep apnoea experts in the UK, expert claims

Sleep apnoea patients may find themselves going undiagnosed as a result of a lack of experts in the field across the UK.

According to Dr Christopher Hanning, chairman of the Intus Healthcare medical advisory board, one of the major barriers to tackling sleep apnoea is “the numbers of patients with the condition and the relative lack of expert centres which are not evenly distributed across the country”.

Sleep apnoea is a risk factor for many conditions, including heart problems. Its swift identification is vital for patients to take steps to address and manage the condition.

Therefore, Dr Hanning recommends home testing to enable people to speed up diagnosis.

Testing kits are simple to use, and avoid the need for patients to go to sleep labs, get the equipment to bring back home to monitor their activities and await diagnosis.

“The use of commercial enterprises to help fill gaps in NHS provision is thus entirely sensible and practical," Dr Hanning added.

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