Outpatient respiratory services

The Respiratory Department manages a significant amount of patients in the outpatient setting. This is where people are investigated, managed and monitored by attending clinics. Patients who visit from home (also called “outpatients”) are given medical treatment or advice in these clinics and often receive regular follow up.

Clinics are led by a clinician that can be a doctor or allied healthcare professional with specialist knowledge about Respiratory or a sub-specialty of Respiratory. They are accessed via GPs or by other means via a healthcare provider where a request for review is made and sent to a member of the Respiratory Team in the form of a referral. There are a wide range of clinics available including:

• Allergy
• Asthma
• Bronchiectasis
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Clinic
• Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD)
• Lung Cancer
• Oxygen
• Pleural
• Tuberculosis (TB)
• Ventilation

Urgent Suspected Cancer Referral – appointment and diagnosis within 28 days

The Urgent Suspected Cancer(USC) Referral pathway is a referral pathway for patients with signs and symptoms of suspected cancer. The USC pathway aims to provide patients with a diagnosis or ruling out of cancer within 28 days of referral. Your GP should let you know if you have been referred to us under this pathway.  

Patients will be contacted by the hospital on receipt of their referral and invited for an appointment. If you have not received an appointment from Wye Valley NHS Trust within one week of the GP referral please contact your GP. 

National guidance no longer indicates for patients to have their first appointment within two weeks, so your first appointment may be more than two weeks after your referral from your GP.  However, as part of the 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard patients should have their first appointment, relevant tests and diagnosis within 28 days from their GP referral.  This standard is in place to improve cancer care by reducing the time between referral and diagnosis. 

Other outpatient services

Other outpatient services are also available for the investigation and management of respiratory disorders. These include:

• Sleep Services – including various sleep studies and initiation/management of CPAP/BiPAP
• Bronchoscopy and Endobronchial Ultrasound
• Thoracoscopy
• Pulmonary Rehabilitation
• Respiratory Physiology – including pulmonary function tests and exercise tests
• Smoking cessation