Pulmonary services
A particular focus on asthma, exercise-related breathlessness (not least EILO) and cough in athletes and active people, alongside assessment and treatment of the other common respiratory conditions in adults. The diagnosis is established objectively, and the plan is tailored to you.
Assessment and treatment of asthma in adults, from mild, intermittent symptoms to difficult-to-control asthma. We establish the diagnosis objectively with lung-function testing and, where needed, a bronchial provocation test (asthma challenge), and build an individual plan so you gain control of symptoms such as cough, chest tightness, wheeze and breathlessness.
Systematic work-up of a cough lasting more than eight weeks. We identify the most common causes, including asthma/cough-variant asthma, post-nasal drip, reflux and medication, and target treatment at the underlying cause.
If the cough persists after the known causes have been looked for and treated, it is called refractory chronic cough. The clinic assesses that too. Speech and language therapy aimed at the cough is not something we provide ourselves, but we refer you for it when it is relevant.
Breathlessness during hard training or competition is often mistaken for asthma. With a sport-specific work-up we tell the causes apart: EILO, exercise-induced asthma and dysfunctional breathing. This is one of the clinic's areas of special expertise.
Structured assessment when you experience breathlessness at rest or on exertion. We systematically distinguish between lung, heart and other causes, and refer onward if the picture points beyond pulmonary medicine.
Evaluation of recurrent or prolonged respiratory infections, and of persistent cough or breathlessness after, for example, pneumonia or a viral infection.
The clinic covers the breadth of respiratory medicine. If you are referred with a condition outside the clinic's main areas of focus (for example COPD), you are equally welcome, and your care is planned from the referral.
Some pulmonary tasks belong outside the clinic, for example sleep apnoea assessment, home oxygen therapy, pulmonary rehabilitation and bronchoscopy. The clinic does not provide those, but we will help point you in the right direction.
Follow-up can take place as a telephone or video consultation, and you can get an e-mail consultation or a prescription renewal without a consultation. If you have asthma, we offer an annual asthma review.
Athletes & sports
Exercise-induced asthma, exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction (EILO) and dysfunctional breathing are easily confused, and they call for a sport-specific work-up.
Allergy
The clinic assesses and treats airway allergy — allergic rhinitis (hay fever) and allergic asthma — with allergy testing (skin-prick test), advice and medication.
For more troublesome allergy we offer allergen immunotherapy (AIT), which gradually makes the immune system less sensitive to the allergen. This applies mainly to airway allergy (for example pollen, house-dust mites and pets), but also to insect allergy, such as bee and wasp sting allergy. The treatment is carried out by the clinic's doctor and experienced nurses, and the regular injections can be taken as drop-in in the afternoon. After each vaccination you stay at the clinic for 30 minutes of observation. If you have had a fever, an infection or a flare of your asthma or allergy within the last three days, tell us when you arrive, or call us beforehand. The injection is usually postponed, but it is an individual assessment. For immunotherapy against airway allergy we measure your lung function before each injection, and it forms part of the assessment of whether the injection is given that day. During a longer course of treatment, an annual review during allergen immunotherapy is offered.
The investigation programme
A diagnosis should rest on objective findings, not on symptoms alone. The clinic brings lung and allergy work-up together in one place, and the investigations are put together to fit your situation. They are quick and, for the most part, painless.
A measurement of how much and how fast you can breathe out, before and after airway-opening medication. It is quick and painless and is central to diagnosing and following asthma.
An objective asthma test for when spirometry alone is not conclusive. The airways are challenged in a gentle, controlled way, so that a tendency to react asthmatically shows itself and can be measured. The clinic offers several types: mannitol, methacholine, EVH (eucapnic voluntary hyperventilation) and an exercise test on a cycle ergometer, so the test can be matched to your problem. For exercise-related symptoms one of the indirect tests is chosen, because they mimic the airways' own trigger.
A simple breath test where you breathe out into a device that measures nitric oxide in your exhaled air (a marker of the eosinophilic, often allergic, airway inflammation seen in asthma). It helps confirm the diagnosis and guide treatment.
Measures the resistance in the airways while you breathe quietly. There is no forced blowing manoeuvre, so it can be used when a standard lung function test is difficult to perform, and as a supplement to it.
Identification of the allergens that matter for you, with a skin-prick test (SPT) on the forearm and, where relevant, a blood test for specific IgE analysed at a laboratory. Together they map airway and insect-venom allergy and form the basis for advice, medication and, where appropriate, allergen immunotherapy.
Before a skin-prick test: pause antihistamine (allergy medication) for 3 days
Where further work-up is needed — for example imaging, or extended lung-function tests such as diffusing capacity and total lung capacity (diffusion/TLC) — it is arranged individually, through an external laboratory where relevant. You are always told what an investigation involves before it is carried out.
Treatment
When the diagnosis is clear, we agree the treatment together and adjust it over time. The aim is good control with as little medication as necessary, and a plan you can actually live with, at work, in everyday life and in sport.
Allergen immunotherapy is carried out by the clinic's doctor and experienced nurses; the regular injections can be taken as drop-in in the afternoon for patients already in a course of treatment.
Your course of care
Knowing what comes next makes the whole thing easier. Here is the typical course from referral to follow-up. Your own pathway is always tailored to you.
A subsidised visit requires a referral, which your GP sends to the clinic. Self-paying and insurance patients can be seen without one.
With free choice of specialist you book a time yourself with MitID as soon as your GP has sent the referral. The clinic collects it. You do not need to wait to hear from us.
Until the patient portal opens, you book your appointment by calling the clinic during phone hours.
We go through your history, symptoms and medication, examine you and usually measure your lung function.
If necessary, we add further investigations to clarify the diagnosis.
We go through the findings and agree an individual treatment plan together.
We arrange relevant follow-up, and your GP receives a clinic letter with the diagnosis and the plan.
A subsidised visit requires a referral from your GP. Your GP sends it electronically, and we collect it, so you do not need to wait to hear from us.
See what to bring and how referral and payment work under “Practical information”. Practical information