Thoracic Medicine 

Thoracic medicine looks after diseases that involve the lung, the lining of the lung and sometimes the chest wall itself. This includes conditions like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and infections like pneumonia and tuberculosis. It also treats malignancies such as lung cancer and mesothelioma (a rare form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos).

We offer specialist services on referral both in hospital and in the community. These include a lung cancer and mesothelioma team; a tuberculosis nurse specialist and a specialist thoracoscopy service, which is a procedure that allows the doctor to examine a particular area of your chest and take tissue and fluid samples.

Our community based respiratory team provide pulmonary rehabilitation and oxygen services for patients in Medway and Swale with COPD, avoiding the need to come to hospital.

Our services are provided by a highly trained team of NHS health professionals that include thoracic consultants and a team of specialist nurses. The team works very closely with colleagues in cardiology, oncology and radiology.