Lack of Input from NHS on Obstructive Sleep Apnoea

[SleepnessSeatlle]

My elderly relative (80s) was recently admitted to hospital with acute heart failure. BNP over 2,000, oxygen sats dropped to 82% on room air. They are a care home resident.

Obstructive sleep apnoea was suspected by a hospital consultant several years ago. The family requested investigation at the time. It was never done. No sleep study was ever performed. No CPAP was ever trialled.

Several years later, they've been readmitted with decompensated heart failure. Echo shows pulmonary hypertension, dilated right ventricle, and impaired RV function. The current clinical team has now independently flagged OSA and recommended a sleep study, but only as an outpatient after discharge.

My concerns are:

1. Is it realistic to expect an outpatient sleep study to happen promptly for a care home resident with limited mobility? What has been other people's experience of waiting times?
2. Has anyone managed to get a sleep study done while still an inpatient, or had a home testing device sent to a care home?
3. If we go private to speed things up, what should we expect to pay for a consultation and sleep study? Has anyone used a portable home testing device privately?
4. For those on CPAP in a care home or residential setting, how did you get the care home staff on board? Did they need training? Were there any issues?
5. If untreated OSA has been contributing to heart failure over several years, is this something that CPAP can still meaningfully improve at this stage?

Any advice or shared experiences would be really appreciated.

From personal experience I know that the wait for initial assessment in our part of South Wales is 4 months. That’s from the right team putting the referral on their waiting list - and getting that far can take ages.

I fear that they will do this to try and still, and given the age of the patient, she might end up in a really bad situation. She's in hospital now, so cannot they do a inpatient study?

Not all hospitals can do sleep studies AFAIK.

That's sad to hear. I was fortunate and got an appointment quite soon, test done, appt for mouth appliance, sent off and received about 6 werks later. Was really impressed with the service. Xx

Our relative did not have to wait long for a sleep study.A few weeks. It needed to be done in a specialised area though. For us East Grinstead.

I had to complete a questionnaire which strongly suggested I had sleep apnoea. GP referred me and I was posted the kit with instructions on how to set it up. I think there was a couple of sticky pads,a smart watch to wear, cannot recall what else but all done independently from home on a specified night. Returned kit to them and within a week was seen and given CPAP machine. This should all be doable from a care home.