SLEEPLESS residents will soon be offered a helping hand to get their head down.
St Cross Hospital in Rugby is set to become the first in Warwickshire, and one of just a few centres in the country, to offer a specialist unit for patients suffering with sleep disorders.
Following a £169,000 investment by University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust, work will start in the New Year on the new sleep unit, which will be staffed by a team including consultants, specialist nurses and dieticians. It will comprise two observation rooms in a quiet area of the hospital, as well as specialist equipment.
The new unit – which follows on from a successful outpatient sleep service which has been running at the hospital for the past two years – will see patients stay overnight, while staff use machines to monitor a patient’s brain activity, breathing, and heart rates while they sleep.
Dr Asad Ali, consultant respiratory physician, said: “St Cross was the perfect site for our new sleep unit, and builds on the outpatient services we already offer to patients. At present the nearest inpatient sleep units are in Birmingham, Leicester and Cambridge, and we’re delighted that the first centre in Warwickshire will be at St Cross.
“Patients have been telling us that they would like to be seen closer to home, and because of increasing demand, some patients have also been waiting longer for their inpatient tests.
“Conditions such as sleep apnoea can be really dangerous if they’re not treated, especially for shift workers in industries like manufacturing and transportation.”
As well as treating patients, it is also hoped that the new unit at St Cross can become a world-leading research centre to identify the causes of sleep disorders, and how to prevent them.
David Moon, Chief Finance & Strategy Officer at UHCW NHS Trust, said: “We’re committed to expanding services at the hospital, and the new unit will offer vital sleep services to patients across Warwickshire and beyond.
