Trial leads to life-changing diagnosis of sleep apnoea

For years, Kevin Clemitson thought his exhaustion was just part of his busy working life.

As a programme manager for a major logistics company, his job involved long days travelling across the country from his home in Wallsend, North Tyneside.

But, when doctors told him he might have sleep apnoea - repeatedly stopping and starting breathing at night - "everything changed".

Concerned he might fall asleep at the wheel, he started using public transport instead. "It had a real impact on my work," he says.

"I stopped driving long distances immediately. That added hours to every journey because, instead of driving, I needed to get the train.

"I just wanted to get it sorted as quickly as possible."

Clemitson says he had never slept well and thought he was just a "bad sleeper". It was only when his wife Victoria - who was usually a deep sleeper - was unwell with a cold and sleeping badly herself that she noticed he would stop breathing during the night.

She recorded a video which shows Clemitson not breathing for almost a minute.

"When Victoria showed me that I got a shock," he says.

People with sleep apnoea are often left exhausted and with an increased risk of wider health problems.

"I was tired during the day and grumpy which impacted family life," Clemitson says. "I thought that was just who I was. I had no idea it was because of this."

In the north-east of England, rates of sleep apnoea are "some of the highest" in the country, according to Dr Mark Weatherhead, consultant in respiratory medicine at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Exact data is unavailable but Weatherhead says demand for assessments has doubled since 2019 and keeping up with this had become increasingly difficult.

To help tackle growing waiting lists, the trust took part in a pilot of a digital diagnostic system called AirConnect Dx. Northumbria Healthcare was one of just three NHS sites in England and Wales involved in the trial, alongside services in Bangor and Coventry.

It involves patients wearing a device at home while they sleep and then using an app to send the results to clinicians to evaluate and make a diagnosis.

Weatherhead says this has reduced waiting times from between three and 12 months to "as little as eight days".

It also means patients in more rural areas of Northumberland do not need to travel to hospital to be assessed as the kit is posted out to them.

The trust's trial of the AirConnect DX has now concluded and Weatherhead and his team hope to secure funding to continue to use the kits.

For Clemitson, the pilot scheme has been transformative.

"You don't realise how much poor sleep affects your life until you finally get the right help," he says.

"The result was life-changing - my energy levels improved, I felt more alert and I was able to get back to normal.

"It made such a difference knowing what was wrong and being able to do something about it."

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