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Sleep apnoea is a common sleep disorder thought to effect up to 10 million people in the UK. Of that figure, it’s estimated that up to 40% experience moderate or severe symptoms. If you’ve got surgery planned, sleep apnoea could affect your eligibility while dictating the need for specialist care.
This article explores the symptoms and risks of sleep apnoea, while introducing what we’re doing to help.
What is sleep apnoea?
Sleep apnoea occurs when the throat closes repetitively during sleep. This leads to pauses in breathing and, consequently, a drop in oxygen levels. People with the condition have to partially wake up each time this happens to open the throat.
Symptoms of sleep apnoea
The symptoms of sleep apnoea include:
- snoring
- frequent awakenings overnight
- daytime tiredness and sleepiness.
However, it should be noted that many people with the condition don’t actually experience these symptoms.
Sleep apnoea and surgery
Having sleep apnoea can increase the risk of heart and lung complications after an operation. Your anaesthetist may change the way they look after you during and after the operation if you have the condition.
During your pre-operative assessment, your consultant will need to find out whether you’re at risk of sleep apnoea.
Practice Plus Group and The Better Sleep Clinic
While at Practice Plus Group, we don’t provide sleep tests, we do have a partnership agreement with The Better Sleep Clinic.
If you’d prefer not to be referred back to your GP for an NHS assessment, thanks to our partnership, The Better Sleep Clinic offer home sleep apnoea test kits for the following discounted prices:
- Home sleep test – £170 (down from £189), use discount code PPHST
- Home sleep test + consultation – £320 (down from £340), use discount code PPCOMBO
For more information, please take a look at our Sleep apnoea testing page.
How does the sleep apnoea test work?
The test is couriered to your home, worn for one night and returned in a pre-paid envelope.
When you have your results (usually sent to you within a week), we will need to review them. You can either share these results with us directly by giving permission to The Better Sleep Clinic or arrange for the results to be sent to your pre-assessment team.
One of our anaesthetists will then assess your report and be in touch with regards to how best we can accommodate your specific needs.
If you have additional concerns about your sleep, you can also arrange a video or telephone consultation with a Better Sleep Clinic specialist.
If you would like to arrange a private sleep study via the Better Sleep Clinic, you can access this service directly using the link below.
