I'm Judy Harris, the OSA Project Manager at the British Lung Foundation (BLF). Our aim is to enable the BLF to take a pro-active approach towards developing a research, lobbying, communications and support programme for OSA.
The project has 3 years’ funding from Philips Respironics. During Year 1 we are researching the issues that affect patients and health care professionals, and planning our campaign. Next year, we will launch our OSA Charter, new information for patients and health care professionals, and begin awareness events.
Objectives of the project:
- Promote OSA as a strategic priority for the BLF, the Department of Health, and governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
- Help increase awareness of OSA to the public and professionals
- Help to find undiagnosed people with OSA and improve their quality of life
- Help to improve OSA services across the UK
The key issues that we are working on include:
- Definition of OSA - what is it?
- Prevalence - how common is it?
- Risk factors – what are they? This includes weight, sex, genetics, age
- Signs and symptoms - how to recognise if some-one has OSA
- Impact on quality of life – patients and others
- Diagnostics – assessments, GP awareness, referrals
- Treatment options – current, future
- Impact of treatment, impact of non-treatment
- Preventing OSA
- Cost of OSA treatment and non-treatment
If you would like to get involved as a patient, please tell us your story, or if you are a health care professional kindly join our to receive regular updates. For more information about the project, please contact me:
