Obstructive sleep apnoea with Sophie West and Robert Koefman

Fatigue is one of the most common presenting symptoms GPs see in a consultation, and it feels like, during the pandemic, more of us than ever have been experiencing excessive tiredness. With our guests this week, Sophie West and Robert Koefman, we discuss the new NICE guidelines on obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome and obesity hypoventilation syndrome, and how sleep apnoea seems to be both under-diagnosed and over-diagnosed in primary care. We talk about the diagnostic challenges of this condition, particularly with the limitations of the available screening tools, the long list of comorbidities that may be linked to OSA, and the difficulties of remote consultations, as well as the huge benefits using a CPAP machine may provide to a patient. Our guests: Sophie West is a respiratory consultant, based in Newcastle upon Tyne. She is also the lead of the Newcastle regional sleep service.

Robert Koefman is a GP at Binfield Surgery in Berkshire. He has also been involved in ENT and community sleep clinics for over 20 years.