Occupational lung disease service

The regional occupational lung disease service is one of none national services that provides highly specialised assessments for suspected cases of:

Occupational asthma/COPD
Occupational rhinitis
Occupational hypersensitivity pneumonitis
Industrial dust-related lung diseases such as asbestosis and silicosis
Other rare diseases related to certain occupations

We receive referrals from GPs, respiratory physicians and occupational physicians.

The team

Two consultant respiratory physicians with occupational lung disease expertise
One specialist respiratory physiologist
One service secretary

We also work closely with the Newcastle Interstitial Lung Disease Service (NILDS) to assess cases of suspected asbestosis and the highly specialised speech and language therapists (ENT service) in cases of occupational inducible laryngeal obstruction.

Tests

When you attend the clinic, we may carry out the following tests:

Lung function tests
Chest x-ray
Airway responsiveness measurements eg methacholine challenge test
Skin prick tests
Computerised peak flow analysis (OASYS)

Your assessment may take 2-3 hours to have all of the tests and see/speak to a doctor, to obtain detailed information about your occupational history and symptoms.

Depending on the results of the assessment we may also need to:

Arrange a workplace visit with you and your employer’s agreement
Arrange a specific inhalational challenge test to test if what you are breathing in at work is causing your asthma
Arrange a ‘return to workplace challenge’ to help diagnose and manage your condition