British Lung Foundation - MP's Survey

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Permalink Reply by Graeme Joy on April 9, 2013 at 15:38

DAVID HEATH CBE MP

Church Hill House

17 Bath Street

Frome

BA11 1DN

Mr Graeme D Joy

Frome, Somerset

BA11 

Date: 9 April 2013

Dear Mr Joy,

Thank you for your email about sleep apnoea.

I am certainly aware of the serious nature of the disease, but the future programme of work on delivering improvements for people with respiratory disease, including those with obstructive sleep apnoea, will be a matter for the National Health Service Commissioning Board from April 2013.

The National Clinical Directors for Respiratory Disease have identified obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) as one of the priority areas for the respiratory programme in the department for this year. As a result, a clinical lead and a project manager were appointed and are currently mapping existing services and identifying priorities for action on OSA.

Working groups have been established to support this work, involving a range of experts and stakeholders, and the national programme for physiological diagnostics continues to monitor access to investigations for OSA and other sleep-related breathing problems, and promotes best practice in service delivery.

Unfortunately, as a Minister, I am not allowed to raise matters in Parliament outside my own portfolio, however you can be assured of my general support.

Yours sincerely,

David Heath CBE MP

Minister of State

Defra

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Permalink Reply by Kath Hope on April 9, 2013 at 22:44

Thanks for posting Graeme.  We're hoping that as many MP's as possible at the Parliamentary Reception on the 23rd of this month at the House of Commons.  I think I'm getting some invites for the MP's and as soon as I do I'll let everyone know.

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Permalink Reply by David on April 24, 2013 at 10:58

Following my earlier email from Clive Betts Mp. he was true to his word and here is his reply:-

Dear David,

Thank you very much for your recent correspondence regarding the OSA drop-in session.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the event, but one of my researchers did attend on my behalf. I now have lots of literature on OSA which I will read in detail in due course.

I am now aware that the risk factors which the British Lung Foundation use to calculate overall risk of OSD in a given constituency are obesity, diabetes, age, hypertension and gender. These factors are weighted respectively in terms of how likely they are to contribute to OSD. I am now aware that my constituency of Sheffield South East is in the overall risk band 4, which means that OSD is quite prevalent in my constituency, and as I have stated before, the diagnosis rate of OSD concerns me. I am also aware that there is not a specific sleep clinic in my constituency, which could help diagnosis, but there are in neighbouring constituencies in Sheffield where the risk band is as low as 1. I have already written to the Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group on this matter, but now I am better informed I will write to them again if their response is not satisfactory.

Please do not hesitate to contact me again in the future regarding this or any other issue.

Regards

Clive Betts MP

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Permalink Reply by Kath Hope on April 26, 2013 at 15:49

This is a great response David and the reception was a great success, so looking forward to lots more awareness and improved services in the areas it's lacking.

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