Sleep apnoea man waiting a year for test results

A man whose severe fatigue has landed him in A&E has said he cannot access treatment for at least a year because of hospital delays.

Jordan from Wantage said he and other sleep study patients at the Oxford Centre for Sleep and Ventilation are facing 52-week waits to get their results.

He said the lengthy delay might mean he is forced to go private which he says could cost up to £1,000.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust apologised for the delays and said: "The Trust has seen a significant year-on-year increase in sleep referrals…We now have a clear plan in place to improve waiting times at the Oxford Centre for Sleep and Ventilation, and we are already seeing progress."

Jordan underwent his sleep study in November and said that after he had not heard from the hospital about his results, he got in touch with them himself.

He said: "I couldn't believe how ridiculous it was that they have the data, downloaded it from the device but seemingly the bottleneck was that they didn't have someone to interpret the data and send the results."

The hospital trust said: "Our teams have introduced additional drop-in clinics, piloted larger group sessions for more patients at a time, and increased weekend and evening working to accelerate the processing of outstanding sleep study reports.

"We are also working closely with partners and commissioners to maximise all available capacity."

Jordan said that until he receives his results, he can't access the treatment he needs.

He said: "I go to bed at 9pm every night, I try and get 8 or 9 hours sleep but still I'm tired during the day.

"I snore at night and my wife says I have sleep apnoea episodes.

"I often find myself having to have a nap or rest during the day and it's just not normal."

Earlier this year Jordan experienced such extreme fatigue that it landed him in A&E: "I had visual migraines come out of nowhere and they said it was because I was so tired that it was causing stroke-like symptoms."

Jordan said he and his family are now considering going private: "I don't want to wait a whole year.

"It's really seriously impacting my life so I've looked into private companies and looked at the possibility of having the data sent to them so they can interpret it but that could cost anywhere from £300 to £1,000.

"It's not something I want to spend money on and I don't really have the money available to but I'm left with limited options."