Respiratory (lungs)

Consultants

Dr Shakil Rahman, Respiratory Consultant Physician (special interest in ILD and Sub-Dean SGUL) – Clinical Lead for Respiratory Department

Dr Praveen Molanguri, Respiratory Consultant Physician (special interest in ILD and non-invasive ventilation)

Dr Jonathan Ratoff, Respiratory Consultant Physician (special interest Pleural Disease, Lung Cancer and TB) – Clinical Director for Specialist Medicine

Dr Claire Wells, Respiratory Consultant Physician (special interest Pleural Disease and Lung Cancer) – Clinical Lead for Lung Cancer

Dr Tsvetana Getsova – Respiratory Consultant Physician

Dr Susanna Ng – Locum Respiratory Consultant Physician

Dr Ranjit Pagonda – Locum Respiratory Consultant Physician

Dr Rebecca Lawrence - Specialty Doctor in Respiratory Medicine

Dr Jian Khoo – Specialty Doctor in Respiratory Medicine

 

Respiratory Clinical Nurse Specialists

We have a team of Clinical Nurse Specialists to support patients referred to the Service. Those colleagues act as a point of contact for patients and staff to support the timely and effective management of patient pathways through to diagnosis and treatment for different specialist conditions.

 

The team can be contacted via esth.respiratorypodegh@nhs.net/esth.respiratorypodsth@nhs.net & 01372 735 293/ 020 8296 2401

Angela Miers – Lead Nurse for Respiratory Services

Virginia Quirke – Associate Lead Nurse for Respiratory Services

 

Lung Cancer Nurse Specialists

The team can be contacted via esth.lung-oncologycns@nhs.net or 020 8296 2409

Faye Crathern - Lung Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist

Tollene Riley - Lung Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist

Charlotte McQuade – Lung Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist

Louise O'Connor - Macmillan Lead Cancer Nurse

 

Tuberculosis Nurse Specialists

The team can be contacted via esth.tbservice@nhs.net or 0208 296 2401

Preseetha Jidesh

Deborah Caswell

 

Specialist Registrars, Hospital doctors and Medical students

As a teaching hospital, we have doctors who are undergoing their specialist training in Respiratory Medicine or General Medicine, as well as medical students from St George's Medical School, University of London. Sometimes medical students may be present during your appointment. Please tell the doctor or nurse in charge if you do not wish for a student to be present.

Referral

Your GP, Practice Nurses or Hospital Consultant can refer you to the service. GPs and other clinicians can read more about referring to our services or can contact the service using the details below.

For our St Helier administration team please contact:

Tel: 020 8296 2401

For our Epsom administration team please contact:

Tel: 01372 735293

 

Lung Cancer Pathway

Lung (respiratory) cancer referral form (two-week rule)[docx] 60KB

 

Secondary Care Post-COVID Specialist Clinic

Secondary care Post-COVID Specialist MDT/Clinic[docx] 78KB

 

Sleep Disorders and Sleep Apnoea 

Please note that Epsom and St Helier University Hospital Trust does not provide a Sleep Apnoea or Sleep disorder service. Please refer any patients for sleep apnoea or sleep disorders to the sleep services that are local to the patient. The two closest services are at St George's University Hospital Trust or at the Queen Victoria Hospital. 

ILD is a lung disease that is progressive and often severe. Most of our patients have a form of the disease called Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis for which, sadly, the average survival after diagnosis is only 3-3.5 years 

It has become apparent that some patients with ILD at St Helier have not been looked after in the best way. That’s because, unfortunately, the care they received from one of the consultant doctors at St Helier between November 2019 and 2023 did not always keep up with evolving best practice.

We have contacted affected patients to make them aware, and patients have been seen in outpatient appointments to make sure they are getting the right treatment and care.  

This follows a review of the care of all patients with ILD by a specialist team of doctors and nurses.

We understand this news may cause patients and their families worry and anxiety, for which we are very sorry. Anyone with concerns can call our advice line on: 020 8296 2401 or 01372 735293. 

We are sorry that we did not identify sooner that a doctor was not keeping up with evolving guidelines when caring for patients with interstitial lung disease. We have taken this issue extremely seriously and have already made a number of changes to make sure it cannot happen again.   

This includes arranging for an independent panel of experts, approved by the Royal College of Physicians, to look into what happened and to make any further recommendations. 

We know that healthcare organisations around the world are safest when they are open and transparent about things that have gone wrong, and our Group Board received and discussed a paper at its meeting in public on Thursday 7 November, which can be viewed via this link.