Home News Make UK Roads Safer – Support Fast Tracking of Sleep Disorder

Make UK Roads Safer – Support Fast Tracking of Sleep Disorder

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A campaign has been launched that aims to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on UK roads by calling for fast-tracked medical treatment for vocational drivers who have the condition obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS).

The campaign has been launched by the OSA Partnership Group, a collective set up to raise awareness of the condition. The Group calls on the Department of Health to issue guidance to Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), hospitals and GPs to expedite treatment of vocational drivers with OSAS to enable driving again within a maximum of four weeks following first referral.

Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is particularly common amongst middle-aged men, especially those who are overweight. Studies have shown that when a driver with untreated OSAS gets behind the wheel of a vehicle, they are between 3 and 9 times more likely to have an accident and that this accident is likely to be of increased severity.

Professor John Stradling, a member of the OSA Partnership Group and author of the campaign paper, has spent his career working with sleep apnoea patients as a respiratory consultant in Oxford. He says, “In my experience vocational drivers are often the safest on our roads but those with OSAS have no control over their sleepiness. We also know that these drivers are reluctant to come forward with symptoms of OSAS for fear of losing their licence, and therefore their livelihood.

“Through the collaborative work our Group has undertaken with the transport industry, we believe that by expediting treatment, we can reduce this fear and therefore encourage drivers to get the treatment that will allow them to drive safely (and considerably benefit their quality of life). In doing so, we can eliminate many unnecessary road traffic accidents, and ultimately reduce the number of serious injuries and fatalities.”

The most usual treatment for OSAS is Continuous Positive Air Pressure (CPAP). Indeed in 2008 NICE carried out a technology appraisal that said that CPAP should be available to all who required it but it did not give a timescale for supply, and as a result this varies widely across the UK from a few weeks to several months. Yet it is the uncertainty as to how soon they will be treated that stops many drivers coming forward.

Bill Johnston, Chairman of Sleep Apnoea Trust (SATA), a member of the OSA Partnership Group says, “We believe that this campaign will provide drivers and their employers with a clear indication of how long a driver can expect to be off the road and therefore enable contingency plans to be put in place, The alternative, particularly in light of the growing prevalence of sleep apnoea, is to risk an increase in road traffic accidents and more deaths on our roads.”

RAC Business, which has recently joined the OSA Partnership Group, also recognises the significance of the campaign.

Jenny Powley, RAC Business Corporate Sales Director, said: “This is an incredibly important initiative as OSAS is a condition which has no respect for the great skill and experience of the drivers it can affect. Although we know an average HGV driver completes many miles every year without incident, if they do have an accident it can often be much more damaging than a smaller vehicle such as a car, due its size and bulk.

“In the long term business as a whole will benefit as drivers who suspect they may be suffering from OSAS will be able to get the treatment they need and be back on the road much more quickly, which is a better outcome for the business owner, fleet manager and everyone concerned.”

Professor Stradling concludes, “We have spoken to a number of clinicians and sleep clinics, all of whom have agreed that vocational drivers can, and should, be treated within this time period. We would now ask the Department of Health to support our call and to put this into action in order to save the devastating cost of accidents caused by untreated OSA patients.”

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