Our Entrepreneurs: Dr Tom Chambers
Meet #OurEntrepreneurs. Today we welcome Dr Tom Chambers, Chief Medical Officer, Theta Sleep and Anaesthetic Trainee, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, NWL School of Anaesthesia
Tell us a bit about yourself
Hi! I’m Tom, an anaesthetist in Northwest London with a special interest in Sleep Medicine. I’m finishing an MSc in Sleep Medicine from the University of Oxford and sit on the Royal Society of Medicine’s Sleep Medicine Section Council. I’m also completing the European Sleep Research Society’s Somnologist examination in September this year.
Name: Dr Tom Chambers, NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Cohort 9
Occupation: Chief Medical Officer, Theta Sleep and Anaesthetic Trainee, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, NWL School of Anaesthesia
My research interests focus on how to implement novel approaches to the management of sleep disorders at scale in a safe and sustainable manner.
I co-founded Theta Sleep in November 2024 and am our Chief Medical Officer and Clinical Safety Officer.
Tells us about your innovation
There are currently 9.2 million UK adults living with undiagnosed sleep apnoea, increasing their risk of heart disease, strokes, dementia, road traffic accidents, depression, and ultimately an early death.
In 2024, the NHS undertook around 200,000 sleep studies and yet the waiting list tripled between 2021-2024. The limited number of sleep centres we have are not located in the areas of greatest clinical need, creating unacceptable postcode lotteries and driving significant healthcare inequality. Through digitisation and remote care, we can and must do better.
Theta Sleep is a tech-enabled clinical sleep service. We combine bespoke software with expert clinicians to deliver better, faster, and lower-cost care for sleep disorders, all from the comfort of patient’s own homes. We primarily focus on sleep apnoea because 85% of people with sleep apnoea are yet to be diagnosed and waiting lists for diagnosis and treatment are some of the worst across the NHS.
We have developed a secure patient-facing platform (Theta Care) and secure clinician-facing electronic health record (Theta OS) that streamlines the pathway from referral to treatment and ongoing follow up. Our scalable solution improves patient and clinician experience and delivers an end-to-end care pathway, rather than just moving the bottleneck at each stage of the patient journey. Our clinical pathways integrate innovations across the care pathway, from novel diagnostics to new treatment options. Our service aligns with the NHS GIRFT Respiratory report and exemplifies the three big shifts to community, digital, preventative healthcare.
What do you hope to get from the programme and the year ahead?
I’m most looking forward to meeting likeminded individuals who are looking to solve big problems in interesting ways. You never know where that next spark or collaboration might come from! The network and mentorship offered by the programme is second to none in the NHS. The opportunity to learn from, and collaborate with, so many talented individuals will be an incredible opportunity.
I’m hoping to learn about where my blind spots are, and how to overcome them, as well as receive support on how to implement innovation and change successfully within the NHS. Personally, I’m looking forward to successfully completing my masters and hope to publish my systematic review on smartphone-based diagnostics for sleep apnoea.
For Theta Sleep, we’re looking to leverage the success of our current pilot in Yorkshire to expand our service so we can reach more patients who are in desperate need of better care. We’ve also got our fingers crossed on an NIHR grant application targeting waiting times and waiting lists, for which we recently submitted a collaborative proposal with the University of Oxford.
If anyone reading this wants to talk about innovation in sleep medicine or how to improve waiting lists and save money, please get in touch!
Why do you think innovation in healthcare is important?
Sleep Medicine needs innovation. Traditional, hospital-based care models cannot manage the scale of the problem. Innovation and digitisation are the only way to successfully move care into the community and in a manner that is not only better for patients but also more cost-effective and able to reach everyone who needs it, removing the geographical barriers that currently exist.
Everybody knows that the challenges that face us in the NHS at the moment are monumental. For me, the concept of innovation goes hand in hand with an optimistic and determined approach to be part of the change needed. Innovators are excited by trying to understand and tackle big challenges, rather than pessimistic about how hard these challenges may be to solve. I think now more than ever we need that attitude!
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