The high and increasing demand for OSA home sleep apnea diagnostic tests (HSAT) and treatment options has exceeded the capacity of sleep services in the UK. There is a significant backlog for HSAT with waits of up to two years in some services which have been compounded by the SARSCoV2 pandemic. This meant cessation or reduction in diagnostic tests in many sleep services in the UK.
Long waits for an appropriate diagnostic test following referral are not acceptable for Policymakers, healthcare services, and most of all for patients who may have an associated significant healthcare symptom burden such as excessive daytime sleepiness with an increased risk of workplace and motor vehicle accidents while they wait on a diagnostic test.
There are a number of diagnostic sleep tests that range from in-lab full polysomnography testing, in-home polysomnography testing, and HSAT options that use polygraphy and other methods, and the Sleep clinician will decide what is the most suitable test following referral.
New technology-enabled care solutions have a place in the diagnostic testing pathway and this is where Sefam UK can provide a unique solution to assist with reducing waiting times and prioritize those patients that may be suitable for a simple HSAT.
This can be managed with less clinician contact and patients with negative HSATs may then be screened out of the diagnostic pathway freeing up staff time to increase capacity to reduce waiting list times.
SUNRISE:
The sunrise device is a 3g sensor that is attached to the chin during the night (with adhesive film) that can be used to detect the presence of OSA.
It works by measuring mandibular movement during sleep and monitoring in this way it assesses the sleep study using a proprietary algorithm informed by machine learning to confirm or refute a diagnosis of OSA.