Children's respiratory

Our respiratory service offers assessment and management of a wide range of breathing-related difficulties in children including:

• Asthma
• Viral-induced Wheeze
• Chronic cough
• Chronic lung disease
• Sleep-related breathing disorders

Our consultants hold specialist respiratory clinics at both St Mary’s and Hammersmith Hospitals. During these appointments the doctor may request for you to have test such as blood tests, allergy tests, and lung function tests.

The paediatric respiratory physiology team offer the following lung function tests:

• Spirometry
• Bronchodilator reversibility testing
• Fractional exhaled Nitric Oxide testing (FeNO)
• Nasal nitric oxide testing
• Impulse oscillometry

Additional information

Community outreach

We have developed and are implementing a unique integrated care-pathway programme with training and support for carers, nurseries, schools and health professionals to ensure consistent delivery of the highest standard of care close to home.

Clinical trials and research

You may be asked whether you and your child are willing to participate in a study. If you do not want to participate it will not in any way affect the management of your child’s allergic problem. Current examples of our research and clinical trials relating to allergy and respiratory medicine can be found on the paediatric research unit page.

Education and elective placements

For information on elective placements please contact Dr Parviz Habibi by emailing p.habibi@imperial.ac.uk

Further online resources

• Asthma UK
• Itchy Sneezy Wheezy

Clinics

Charing Cross Hospital

Respiratory medicine clinics at Charing Cross Hospital are held in the outpatient department on the fifth floor, north wing or in the main outpatients department on the first floor. Please check your appointment letter.

Addresses

Five north outpatients department
Fifth floor
North wing
Charing Cross Hospital
Fulham Palace Road
London W6 8RF

Main outpatients department 
First floor
Charing Cross Hospital 
Fulham Palace Road 
London W6 8RF

Hammersmith Hospital

Address

Main outpatients department
Ground floor
A block
Hammersmith Hospital
Du Cane Road
London W12 0HS

 

St Mary’s Hospital 

Address

Chest and allergy clinic
Ground floor
Mint Wing
St Mary's Hospital
Praed Street
London W2 1NY

Please note: The chest and allergy clinic can be accessed via entrance E to the Mint Wing, off South Wharf Road. 

Community services

We also have a community cardiorespiratory service offered in Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster and Hammersmith & Fulham at various locations. This is for general respiratory services such as breathlessness, coughs, normal chest x-ray, optimisation of known COPD or asthma.

Meet the team

Our respiratory medicine service team includes respiratory consultants, physiologists and clinical nurse specialists.

Charing Cross Hospital

Respiratory consultants

Dr Frances Bowen, divisional director, medicine and integrated care
Dr Susy Bloch
Dr Joanna Brown
Dr Brendan Mallia-Milanes
Dr Carl Reynolds
Dr Clare Ross, head of specialty, respiratory
Dr Katie Ward

Senior respiratory physiologist

Hannah Tighe

Respiratory clinical nurse specialists

Aleta Villagracia
Mawuli Foli Awli
Rose Kirori

Hammersmith Hospital 

Respiratory consultants 

Prof Onn Min Kon, head of specialty, tuberculosis
Dr Joanna Brown
Dr Robina Coker
Dr Meg Coleman
Dr Rachel Davies
Dr Gulam Haji
Dr Luke Howard
Dr Vince Mak
Dr Jamilah Meghji
Dr Sunil Patel
Prof Claire Shovlin
Prof Salman Siddiqui
Dr Katie Ward

Senior respiratory physiologist

Hannah Tighe

Respiratory clinical nurse specialist

Geeta Vekaria

St Mary’s Hospital

Respiratory consultants 

Dr Clare Ross, head of specialty, respiratory
Dr Susy Bloch
Dr Meg Coleman
Dr Sarah Elkin
Prof Sebastian Johnston
Dr Patrick Mallia
Dr Laura Martin 
Dr Jamilah Meghji
Prof Onn Min Kon
Dr Richard Morton
Dr Carl Reynolds
Prof Salman Siddiqui
Dr Rudy Sinharay
Dr Melissa Wickremasinghe
Dr Ernie Wong, asthma lead
Dr Loong Yuan Han

Senior respiratory physiologist

Sophia Martin

Respiratory clinical nurse specialists

Carina Rodrigues
Charlotte O'Riordan
Shauna Mckibben
Corinna Scannell
Geeta Vekaria

Patient information

Find out what to expect when you come to hospital for your appointment.

Patient information leaflets

• After your local anaesthetic thoracoscopy
• After your pleural biopsy
• After your pleural aspiration
• Ambulatory pneumothorax device
• Azithromycin in COPD
• Bronchoscopy
• British Lung Foundation patient information leaflet on community-acquired pneumonia 
• Chest drain
• COPD virtual ward
• Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS)
  
• Indwelling pleural catheter aftercare
• Local anaesthetic thoracoscopy
• Pleural aspiration
• Pleural biopsy
• Pneumothorax
• Preparing for your indwelling pleural catheter
• Talc pleurodesis

Referrals

Find out how to refer patients to our respiratory medicine service.

GP referrals

Please use NHS e-Referrals to refer a patient to our respiratory services. 

Prior to referral

If you are referring a patient with a productive cough, please send details of any recent sputum microbiology, and/or provide the patient with a sample pot for the morning of their appointment.

Please arrange for the patient to have a chest x-ray at the hospital you intend to refer to. This should take place prior to referral or on the day of referral so images can be accessed at the clinic appointment.

If the patient has had imaging at another hospital and you are not referring to that hospital please indicate which hospital clearly on the referral so that this imaging may be retrieved and reviewed.

Please send the results of any relevant blood tests and inform us of any relevant social circumstances that are impacting the patient's health and wellbeing.

Additional information

• Patients with suspected cancer should be referred according to cancer network guidelines as a two week wait referral
• Patients under 16 years old should be referred to children's services
• Patients with sleep disorders should be referred to Charing Cross sleep service
• Patients with pulmonary hypertension should be referred directly to these specialist services and not to the general respiratory services

GP advice

GPs and practice staff can contact our respiratory medical specialists directly with clinical queries and questions through the Trust’s GP advice service.

For enquiries regarding respiratory, please email respiratoryadvice.imperial@nhs.net

Please note, this service is for enquiries from GPs and practice staff only. If you are a patient with a query, please contact our patient advice and liaison service (PALS).

Secondary care

All referrals must be made via the GP. In general, we would not expect other secondary care organisations to refer to the general respiratory services.

Referrals from other secondary care organisations to our specialist respiratory services should be made directly to those services and not to the general service.