British Snoring & Sleep Apnoea Association

Hi,

I was watching City Hospital on BBC 1 this moning and at the end of the show they put up some contact details.

I have therefore sent them an e-mail suggesting that they highlight sleep apnoea on the programme as I have yet to see it mentioned on this or any other popular daytime show.

I am not sure if Guys and St Thomas's Hospitals have a department of sleep medicine, but I will let you know if I get a reply.

Did anyone see City Hospital this morning? They had a quick 2 minute piece where they chatted to a lady who was just about to undergo her CPAP trail and she was able to talk a little about the condition.

It would have been nice if they had done a piece with the consultant and he/she had explaind a bit about the condition, but it was a start. Anything that can bring OSA to the attention of more people has got to be good news.

As a final thought and without wishing to get too political or controversial, remember that if you live in England, today is your chance to influence how your money is spent on local services, including your local health authority. Far be it for me to try to tell you who to vote for, I only raise the point so that people can bear this in mind when exercising their democratic rights.

I thought that you may like to see my e-mail to the programme and the reply.


Many thanks for your email regarding Sleep Apnoea. We have covered this subject many times on City Hospital, from the Sleep Unit at St Thomas' Hospital, run by Dr Adrian Williams. We have not visited this unit so far on the present series, but we are on air until the end of May, so may be bringing items from there over the next few weeks. Thank you for taking the time to contact us and for your interest in the programme.
Yours
Judi Livesey
Viewer Liaison
City Hospital

At 21:47 03/05/2006, you wrote:
Hello,

I would like to ask whether you would consider looking at the subject of snoring and sleep apnoea on the programme. I do not know if Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals have a department of sleep medicine and I do realise that the show goes out live at 10am, however this is a serious problem for a great many people and is a condition which the general public really do not know enough about.

About 4% of men and 2% of women have obstrctive sleep apnoea and many more people have problems with snoring. Asides from being a sorce of amusement, it carries very real risks with sufferers having a sixfold chance of falling asleep at the wheel whilst driving and having a greater risk of high blood pressure and strokes.

Your programme provides a public service in making people aware of what are very common illnesses, but which because of social conditioning are often put down to other things such as people being lazy or having a poor lifestyle.

You may wish to consult the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association website at www.britishsnoring.co.uk for further information, particularly the forum page where you will find out from sufferers just what an impact this condition has on people's lives.

I look forward to your reply with interest.

Hi,

Just thought I would let you know that the programme was coming from the sleep unit today and majoring on sleep apnoea. I have not yet seen the programme, but hopefully it has been taped for me and I can watch it later tonight.

It just proves that sometimes if you ask politely for something, people are willing to grant you your wish. Now if only we could persuade Tony Blair and his cronies that OSA is a condition that the NHS should take seriously and that adaquate resources should be given over to it's treatment - well that would be a result!

I'm sure I caught a City Hospital programme last month where they featured on sleep apnoea. I know it is where I learnt about the nightime toilet visit's apparently apnoea makes you produce more urine and I thought I was just going because I was awake.( Apologies too much information). Wish I remembered more about the programme but I do remember that it was both positive and sympathetic. Jo