Sleep clinic moves from Bognor to Arundel

Dr Peter Venn from QVH outside the The Arundel Surgery where the clinic is now based

A sleep disorder clinic previously based in Bognor has just moved to Arundel and expanded its services due to growing demand.

The sleep disorder team at Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead established a coastal clinic in April 2017, following requests from patients wanting specialist support closer to home.

Since then the team have seen around 130 patients in its clinic, which operated once a month from the War Memorial Hospital in Bognor Regis.

An expansion saw the clinic move to The Arundel Surgery in Arundel in February, where the team will provide weekly appointments from within the GP practice.

The increased number of clinics will enable more patients to see an expert closer to their home where they will receive the same service, quality and outcome for their sleep problems as the main clinic in East Grinstead, the hospital said.

The new clinic will also enable the team to offer insomnia and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) sessions.

Dr Peter Venn, clinical director of the sleep disorder centre, said: “The response we’ve had to our initial coastal satellite clinic has been very positive and shown there is a demand for people wanting support for their sleep problems.

“The move to the Arundel Surgery is an exciting opportunity for us to expand our service further which is popular and highly regarded.”

The sleep disorder service has been running in East Grinstead for 26 years and is the largest service of its kind in the south of England, outside of London.

It receives around 3,000 new referrals a year.

The clinic will provide home-based investigations wherever possible, but more complex investigations and treatments where a sleep study (polysomnography) is needed will take place at the sleep disorder centre in East Grinstead.

This sleep study involves a person staying in one of the hospital’s specially set up bedrooms whilst equipment records their brain waves, oxygen level in the blood, heart rate and breathing, as well as eye and leg movements whilst they sleep.

Follow up appointments for patients using CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machines will form a major part of the routine service at Arundel.

GPs can refer patients directly to the service.