Respiratory Medicine
Wythenshawe, Trafford, Withington and Altrincham Hospitals (Northwest Lung Centre)
Respiratory Medicine at Wythenshawe Hospital
The Directorate of Respiratory Medicine in Manchester is part of the broader Respiratory Division within the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. It is anchored by the Northwest Lung Centre (NWLC) at Wythenshawe Hospital, which is one of the world's premier lung treatment and research centres. The directorate provides a full spectrum of respiratory care, from community-based services to highly specialized national tertiary services. It serves a core population of around 5.4 million people across Greater Manchester and the Northwest, while also receiving national referrals.
For the local populations around Manchester, the directorate provides comprehensive secondary care:
- Acute Care: Five respiratory wards at Wythenshawe Hospital care for patients requiring hospitalization.
- General Outpatient Clinics: For local patients referred by their GPs with symptoms like unexplained chest pain, cough, or breathlessness.
- Community Respiratory Team (CRT): A multidisciplinary team offering acute and chronic disease management, particularly for COPD, aiming to prevent hospital admissions and promote self-management at home.
- Pulmonary Rehabilitation: A 6-week exercise and education program for patients with COPD, Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD), Bronchiectasis, or Asthma with fixed airways.
Specialist Services
The NWLC hosts 16 tertiary or national respiratory subspecialty services, making it a major referral hub. These services handle complex, rare, and severe conditions:
- Sleep Service: Supported by one of the best-equipped sleep laboratories in the UK, investigating and treating breathing-related sleep disorders.
- Manchester Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) Hub: The network lead for coordinating care, including access to novel biologic therapies, for patients with scarring of the lung tissue.
- Manchester Long-term Ventilation and Weaning Service: One of the largest services nationally, coordinating care for patients with respiratory failure.
- Manchester Adult Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Centre: A purpose-built, 22-bed facility, ranking as one of the largest and longest-established adult CF centres in the UK.
- Northwest Chronic Cough Centre: One of only four tertiary services across England and Wales, receiving regional and national referrals.
- Complex Breathlessness Service: Supported by the Northwest Lung Function Laboratory—established in the 1950s and one of the country's best-equipped—which provides comprehensive assessments, including cardiopulmonary exercise testing.
- Bronchiectasis Service: Provides multidisciplinary care, including physical therapy and an Outpatient Antibiotic Service (OPAT), for non-CF bronchiectasis.
- Northwest Severe Asthma Hub: The network lead for severe asthma, coordinating novel biologic therapies and bronchial thermoplasty (a non-drug procedure). It works closely with the Manchester Airways Service and regional networks.
- Severe COPD Assessment: Offers specialized evaluation and management for severe cases of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
- Occupational Lung Disease Service: One of only nine such centres in the UK, providing specialist advice on diagnosis, workplace management, and compensation for lung diseases caused by work.
- Pulmonary Embolism (PE) and Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) Services: While specific dedicated "PE and PH" hubs aren't explicitly separated in the standard service lists, these conditions are managed within the broader tertiary respiratory failure, lung function, and advanced diagnostics framework (including the Lucis Diagnostics Centre and links with the Northwest Heart Centre).
- National Aspergillosis Centre: Provides long-term care for patients with chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (a complex fungal infection).
- Lung Transplant Assessment: One of only five UK centres for lung transplantation, serving a catchment of over six million people.
Regional Training and Research Centre
The directorate is deeply integrated with the University of Manchester, functioning as a powerhouse for respiratory medicine training and research:
- Academic Leadership: The team includes over 40 clinical consultants and 10 Clinical Academic Professors.
- NIHR Manchester Clinical Research Facility (CRF): Wythenshawe Hospital houses dedicated experimental medicine facilities. It enables cutting-edge research across asthma, COPD, cystic fibrosis, chronic cough, and lung fibrosis, offering patients access to advanced clinical trials.
- Advanced Diagnostics: Facilities like the Lucis Diagnostics Centre provide high-tech, minimally invasive fiber-optic and ultrasound investigations for diagnosis, staging, and research.
Fellowships and observerships at Manchester Specialist Health Academy provide international clinicians with structured opportunities to experience high quality healthcare training within a leading NHS environment. Both pathways offer consultant oversight, a clear induction, and access to modern clinical settings that support a strong understanding of advanced patient care. Participants are welcomed into a professional community that encourages learning, collaboration, and engagement with the culture of Manchester.
While fellows take part in more in depth clinical development, gaining exposure to subspecialties, procedures and research, observers focus on shadowing and understanding multidisciplinary practice within NHS services. Both groups benefit from involvement in clinics, team discussions, and wider learning activities such as simulation sessions, CPD opportunities, and quality improvement insight.
Academic contributions and awards
Explore a small selection of the recent publications from the unit, covering the specific specialities:
- Prevalence of respiratory viruses in stable and acute asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis
- From surveillance to participation: redefining respiratory virus epidemiology in the era of self-testing.: Commentary to "Self-testing for five respiratory viruses in adults ≥50 years of age in Germany for longitudinal monitoring of community
- Hospital outcomes in interstitial lung disease-related admissions: a multicentre retrospective study in the North West of England
- Activation status of immune cells in the airway is a defining feature of severe fungal asthma
- Aligning management of chronic cough in asthma with BTS/NICE/SIGN guidance
- Decoding community-acquired pneumonia: a systematic review and analysis of diagnostic criteria and definitions used in clinical trials
- Personalised screening intensity based on existing lung cancer risk and spirometry | European Respiratory Society
- Personalised screening intensity based on existing lung cancer risk and spirometry | European Respiratory Society
- Achieving earlier diagnosis of symptomatic lung cancer | British Journal of General Practice
- Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator Modulators: Real-World Evidence Highlights Need for Worldwide Access | Annals of the American Thoracic Society | Oxford Academic
- Plastic bronchitis in an adult
- Chronic Productive Cough in an Immunosuppressed Patient due to Biologics: A Rare Case of Bordetella bronchiseptica Pulmonary Infection
- Interesting Case of Mesocardia: A Rare Cardiac Positional Anomaly
Rare and complex cases
Rare and complex patients in all the specialities are being managed in tertiary services and in secondary services, which include referrals from other hospitals for second and tertiary level or even national level opinion. In addition to the separate MDTs amongst the sub specialities, weekly MDT for complex and rare types of general respiratory patients.
Why Manchester?
Manchester is a city of innovation and progress, renowned as the world’s first industrial city and still leading in science, healthcare, and technology. With excellent transport links and a vibrant, multicultural atmosphere, it offers an inclusive environment for learning and professional growth.
Beyond your placement, Manchester offers something for everyone - from watching the iconic Manchester derby to exploring world-class museums and galleries. With vibrant music, sport, and culture, the city truly has it all. Combining heritage and modernity, it creates a unique setting for personal enrichment and memorable experiences whilst you develop professionally.
Meet our expert supervisors
Our team consists of highly qualified and motivated professionals, who are all experts in their field. With many years of experience in the industry, they have the expertise to provide comprehensive, first-rate services to our clients.
Dr
Harshana Bandara Lansakara Mudiyanselage
Dr Harshana Bandara Lansakara Mudiyanselage is a Substantive Consultant in Sleep, Long-Term Ventilation, and Respiratory Medicine at the Northwest Lung Centre.He is an Acting Consultant at the National Hospital for Respiratory Diseases in Sri Lanka. Beyond his clinical expertise, he is a dedicated mentor, notably serving as resource person and a leader for the CESR/Portfolio Pathway for Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.
Our signature programmes
Observership
Respiratory Medicine
A visiting observer at the Northwest Lung Centre offers clinical professionals a unique opportunity to gain advanced experience in one of the UK's (and Europe's) largest and most highly regarded respiratory medicine departments.
Because the NWLC serves as a partnership between the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) and the University of Manchester, the learning outcomes bridge both highly specialized clinical care and cutting-edge academic research.
Objectives
- Exposure to Rare and Complex Diseases: Observers and fellows can gain firsthand experience managing complex cases across the centre's 16 tertiary subspecialties, including severe asthma, interstitial lung disease (ILD), cystic fibrosis, and chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (In liaison with national aspergillus service).
- Advanced Diagnostics Training: Professionals can observe and learn about state-of-the-art diagnostic techniques, particularly within the highly equipped Northwest Lung Function Laboratory and the Lucis Diagnostics Centre, which focuses on advanced bronchoscopies and minimally invasive procedures (In liaison with lung cancer directorate).
- Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) Integration: Visitors learn how to effectively operate within a world-class MDT environment, shadowing consultants, specialist respiratory nurses, and allied health professionals (like physiotherapists and dieticians) in complex case management.
Eligibility
The visiting professional must have sufficient English language skills to engage meaningfully in the scheme.
Fellowship
Respiratory Medicine
A visiting fellow at the Northwest Lung Centre (NWLC) offers clinical professionals a unique opportunity to gain advanced experience in one of the UK's (and Europe's) largest and most highly regarded respiratory medicine departments.
Because the NWLC serves as a partnership between the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) and the University of Manchester, the learning outcomes bridge both highly specialized clinical care and cutting-edge academic research.
Objectives
- Exposure to Rare and Complex Diseases: Observers and fellows can gain firsthand experience managing complex cases across the centre's 16 tertiary subspecialties, including severe asthma, interstitial lung disease (ILD), cystic fibrosis, and chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (In liaison with national aspergillus service).
- Advanced Diagnostics Training: Professionals can observe and learn about state-of-the-art diagnostic techniques, particularly within the highly equipped Northwest Lung Function Laboratory and the Lucis Diagnostics Centre, which focuses on advanced bronchoscopies and minimally invasive procedures (In liaison with lung cancer directorate).
- Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) Integration: Visitors learn how to effectively operate within a world-class MDT environment, shadowing consultants, specialist respiratory nurses, and allied health professionals (like physiotherapists and dieticians) in complex case management.
- Specialized Interventions: Depending on the fellowship focus, there is the potential to learn about specialized interventions such as bronchial thermoplasty for severe asthma or intrabronchial coil/valve treatments for severe COPD.
Eligibility
All fellows are expected to have a confirmed sponsor.
- Postgraduate Qualification: Applicants must hold an overseas-recognised postgraduate medical qualification (MD, MS, Masters) in the relevant specialty.
- Experience: Minimum of 3 years’ recent experience in the specialty (or a related specialty) within the last 5 years, including at least 12 months of continuous practice before applying.
- Training Level: Equivalent to ST5 or above, or post-CCT clinicians seeking subspecialty exposure.
- Language Proficiency: IELTS Academic with 7.0 in each band and overall 7.5, or OET Medicine with Grade B in all domains (certificate valid within 24 months).
- Registration: GMC registration is required. We can support with sponsorship if needed.
- Other :
- Must not have failed PLAB exams previously.
- Visa sponsorship only through approved routes; self-funded visas outside agreed schemes are excluded.