Your appointment at the sleep disorders centre

Coronavirus: sleep disorders update

In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, please read our advice and information before attending the service.

Clinic locations

• Guy's Hospital
  Sleep disorders centre
  3rd floor, Nuffield House
  Great Maze Pond
  London SE1 9RT

  Tel: 020 7188 3430

• St Thomas' Hospital
  Lane Fox Unit
  Ground floor, South Wing
  Westminster Bridge Road
  London SE1 7EH 

  Tel: 020 7188 8832

If you suffer from insomnia, please speak to your GP about cognitive behavioural therapy.

The majority of our clinics are held in Nuffield House at Guy's Hospital. We have one outpatient clinic at St Thomas' Hospital. Please check your letter before your appointment. Clinics are by appointment only. 

Clinics

• General sleep clinic

  • Frequency – daily
  • Location – Nuffield House, Guy's Hospital
  • Description – for patients with unusual movements/behaviours
    in sleep, sleep walking, acting out dreams, night terrors, restless legs, limb jerks, twitching at sleep onset or during sleep, nocturnal seizures, excessive sleepiness, delayed or advanced sleep onset and offset
  • Key staff – Dr Williams, Dr Muza, Dr Leschziner, Dr Steier,
    Dr Kent, Dr Rosenzweig, Dr Nesbitt, Dr O’Regan, Dr Selsick, Dr Murphy

• Snoring and sleep apnoea clinic

  • Frequency – daily
  • Location – Nuffield House, Guy's Hospital
  • Description – snoring with daytime sleepiness and/or pauses in breathing during sleep (sleep apnoea)

• CPAP machine issue and home trial

  • Frequency –group collections on Monday and Friday mornings and Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons
  • Individual collection clinics by arrangement
  • Location – Nuffield House, Guy's Hospital
  • Description – for patients newly diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnoea
  • Key staff – Richard Brown, Highly Specialist Medical
    Technologist, Tel: 020 7188 9122
    Karen Bacon, CPAP Practitioner, Tel; 020 7188 9123
  • Email: cpap.enquiries@nhs.net

• CPAP machine annual service and follow-up 

  • Frequency – Monday afternoons, Tuesdays and Thursdays
  • Location – Nuffield House, Guy's Hospital
  • Description – for patients who are using CPAP treatment at home. This a technologist-led follow-up appointment clinic to review CPAP compliance and perform equipment safety testing
  • Key staff – Richard Brown, Highly Specialist Medical Technologist, Tel: 020 7188 9122
    Asia Woroszyl-Chruschiel, Senior Medical Technologist, Tel: 020 7188 3445
    Vimbai Maposa, Senior Medical Technologist, Tel: 020 7188 3445
  • Email: cpap.enquiries@nhs.net

• Complex sleep clinic

  • Frequency – twice weekly
  • Location – Nuffield House, Guy’s Hospital

  • Description – a clinic specifically for patients with complex needs. This clinic is only open to referrals from other specialists

  • Key staff – Dr Leschziner (neurology), Dr Nesbitt (neurology), Dr O’Regan (psychiatry), Dr Rosenzweig (neuropsychiatry), Dr Madeley (psychology)

Appointments

Cancelling or changing your appointment

If you need to cancel or change your appointment for any reason, please call 020 7188 3430 (option 1) or go to our online appointments page.

Please tell us as soon as possible so that we can give your appointment to another patient.

If you haven't received an appointment yet please call us on our main number 020 7188 3430.

What to bring with you

For initial consultations, it is helpful if your bed partner or a relative comes with you, as they may be able to give a better account of what's going on during your sleep than you can.  Please bring:

• your diary so we can book further visits and tests (where necessary) at a convenient time for you
• any medications you are currently taking, or if this is not possible, a full list of them. Include prescriptions from your doctor, alternative or herbal remedies and anything you have bought over the counter.

At your appointment

Please report to the receptionist in Nuffield House when you arrive. Your first outpatient appointment will usually last 20-30 minutes and may involve:

• taking a history of your sleep complaint
• a brief examination
• recording your weight and blood pressure
• you completing a questionnaire so that we can judge your degree of daytime sleepiness. 

Some consultations may take longer than others, but we try to make sure that you are seen as close to your appointment time as possible. 

Space in the sleep disorders centre waiting room is limited, so if your appointment is in the centre and you have brought a friend or relative with you, they may have to wait outside during busy times.

After your appointment

Your clinician or technologist will explain what follow up visits or investigations are needed. He/she may book your next appointment with you during your consultation, or complete an outcome for you to give to the receptionist, who will then book your next appointment with you.

Once you have had your outpatient appointment, you may need to come in for an overnight sleep study. This is usually within six weeks of your appointment.  We rarely ask you to stay overnight on the same day as your appointment.