Expanding community access: Aintree regional sleep service expands with new diagnostic centres
Wednesday, 20 August 2025
The regional Sleep Service at Aintree University Hospital, part of the University Hospitals of Liverpool Group (UHLG) is the largest provider of sleep services in Cheshire and Merseyside.
Recently the service has partnered with Paddington Community Diagnostic Centre and Liverpool Women’s Hospital Community Diagnostic Centre with the aim of increasing capacity and providing more accessibility for patients.
Demand for sleep services has risen significantly, seeing a 47% increase in sleep referrals between 2023/24 to 2024/25 within Cheshire and Merseyside.
This is much in part due to the rise in popularity of weight loss injections as sleep apnea is considered one of the weight related conditions required for eligibility to receive the medication.
The studies available at these new locations will support the revolutionary WatchPAT home sleep study test, that accurately monitors various physiological parameters during sleep in the patient’s own home, helping to diagnose sleep apnea easily and effectively for patients.
In addition, geolocation software integrated into the sleep clinical system can automatically identify the optimal clinic location for patients based upon postcode so patients aren’t asked to travel distances that are too far.
The sleep service at Paddington represents the first physiological sciences diagnostic modality to be offered in both centres. This also supports the work towards the NHS 10-year plan requirements of more diagnostics being performed in the community.
With the addition of these two new service options, 50% of all Aintree Regional sleep diagnostics are now performed at a community location.
Michelle Moody, Operational Site Manager at Paddington CDC, said:
“We are happy to be able to offer sleep services at Paddington CDC. This will mean a lot to patients who are referred into the service as we are able to give them the option of attending their appointment at our convenient, central location. In fact, we recently welcomed a patient who had a fear of lifts and was wary of attending their appointment at Aintree so they requested to be referred here – they were much more comfortable attending at Paddington as we don’t require access via lifts.”
Gavin Phillips, Clinical Service Manager, Aintree Regional Sleep Service and Clinical Lead Physiological Sciences Network, Cheshire and Merseyside Provider Collaborative, said:
“The development of community sleep studies has been a big step in helping us to improve access and reduce waiting times to all. Cheshire and Merseyside have some of the shortest waiting times for sleep studies in the UK due to the innovative developments and changes introduced by our regional sleep service teams.
“With the launch of these two new services, we can ensure all Cheshire and Merseyside patients can have their home sleep apnoea test (HSAT) booked within 6 weeks of date of referral from their GP.”
