The department provides an extensive service, managing a wide range of conditions including:
- Asthma and allergy
- Lung cancer
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Bronchiectasis
- Interstitial lung disease
- Pleural disease
- Occupational-related lung disease
- Tuberculosis
- Obstructive sleep apnoea
Outpatient clinics are held at the Lister, New QEII and Hertford County hospitals, with the respiratory medicine team running dedicated clinics for lung cancer, asthma, sleep disorders, Tuberculosis and pleural effusions. A lung multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting is also held once a week for the management of those patients who have lung cancer. We have visiting thoracic surgeons from Harefield and Papworth hospitals, who attend the lung MDT and the surgeon from Papworth holds an outpatient clinic at the Lister.
Procedures carried out by the respiratory medicine team include:
- Bronchoscopy
- Local anaesthetic thoracoscopy
- Indwelling pleural catheters
- Pulmonary function tests
- Domiciliary sleep studies
- EBUS
Inpatient services are provided at the Lister hospital only, where the dedicated respiratory ward is 11A, which also has a four-bedded respiratory support unit (RSU) for monitoring acutely unwell respiratory patients – as well as providing non-invasive ventilation (NIV). A seven-day acute chest team (ACT) service is provided, the purpose of which is to review, within 24 hours, all respiratory patients admitted to the Lister via the hospital’s emergency department or acute medical assessment unit. The team also advises on acutely unwell respiratory patients on other inpatient wards at the Lister, as well as providing a rapid assess clinic to facilitate the early discharge of patients, or preventing their admission. The teams work closely with the Integrated Community Respiratory Service (ICRS) to help manage patients in the community. This facilitates admission prevention and supportive discharge.
The respiratory medicine team
Consultants
Dr Katie Chong
Dr Safwat Hamad
Dr She Lok – clinical director for respiratory services
Dr Alison McMillan
Dr Peer Mohamed
Dr Tony Redington
Dr Alex Wilkinson
Prof Thida Win
Visiting consultants
Mr Vladamir Anikin – visiting thoracic surgeon, Harefield hospital
Mr Aman Coonar – visiting thoracic surgeon, Papworth hospital
Nursing staff
Claire Wotton – Lead sleep and respiratory clinical nurse specialist
Angela Blundell – Respiratory clinical nurse specialist
Jane Conway – Respiratory clinical nurse specialist
Alison Gower – Respiratory and TB clinical nurse specialist
Rachel Higham – Senior respiratory clinical nurse specialist
Sarah Lewis – Respiratory clinical nurse specialist
Carly Long – Senior respiratory clinical nurse specialist
Carol Loosely – Senior respiratory and TB clinical nurse specialist
Kay McColm – Respiratory clinical nurse specialist
Elvira Torio-Orido – Respiratory clinical nurse specialist
Clare Walsh – Respiratory clinical nurse specialist
Lung cancer nurse specialists
Elaine Dockree – sees patients at the Lister
Patricia Swann – sees patients at the New QEII and Hertford County
Lung physiology technicians
Marta Vilaca –Chief respiratory and sleep clinical physiologist
Ana Gaspar – Respiratory and sleep clinical physiologist
Priya Nair – Respiratory and sleep clinical physiologist
Jack Ridler – Respiratory and sleep clinical physiologist
Joel Patasin – Sleep and CPAP technician
