Dr Jonathan Tham is the third GP at the Kingston Wing, at Yeovil Hospital

Third GP – with sleep specialty – appointed at private wing at Yeovil Hospital

Paul JonesJune 21, 20251 Comment0

A PRIVATE Somerset GP service has taken on its third doctor – with a specialism in treating people who have difficulties sleeping.

The Kingston Wing – the private unit of Yeovil Hospital – has welcomed Dr Jonathan Tham as its third GP.

His weekly clinic in Yeovil will offer routine GP consultations, but it will also be one of the only clinics in the south west to assess and treat both chronic insomnia and obstructive sleep apnoea.

Dr Tham, who is also an NHS GP in Crewkerne, qualified in London and ran a specialist insomnia clinic, supported by the University of Oxford.

He now also spends a day a week working under the umbrella of the National Institute for Health and Care Research, working on developing new treatments for sleep conditions.

The 34-year-old said: “When you consider we spend a third of our lives sleeping, this is a fascinating and in many ways under-researched topic.

“I am excited about working with the Kingston Wing to offer patients in this area the chance to talk to me about their sleep problems. And of course I will also be running routine GP consultations.

“The aim of my research is to develop a simple ‘tool kit’ which GPs and practice nurses can use to help people with sleep conditions as part of short routine appointments in the future. There is nothing like it available at the moment.”

Dr Tham joins Dr Katie Thomas and Dr Charles Middle on the Kingston Wing, which has been running for almost 18 months.

Hannah Pitman, private patients service manager at Kingston, said: “What is being offered now in Yeovil is designed to complement the existing NHS GP service and not replace it.

“We are particularly excited to welcome Dr Tham. His specialism in sleep conditions offers a new dimension to the services we offer. The combination of treatments for chronic insomnia and sleep apnoea will make his clinic unique in this area.”

Services being offered by the Kingston Wing include: Travel vaccinations, immunisations, medicals including HGV, Taxi etc, a more convenient appointment time or longer appointment, health checks/well person packages, including HRT, prescribing, osteoporosis assessments, breast screening and prostate cancer screening, people visiting the UK or not registered for an NHS GP, onward referral for private diagnostic tests, to a private consultant, or for private elective surgery, a second opinion.

Hannah added: “The demand in these challenging times has proved the need for a third GP in Yeovil and we are delighted to welcome Dr Tham.

“The purpose is to fill the gap in the market where a patient requires a longer consultation, a quicker or more convenient appointment, a second opinion or a service that is not available on the NHS.”

Kingston Wing at Yeovil and also Parkside at Musgrove in Taunton are part of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and all profits go straight back into the NHS.