His clinical practice involves the assessment of patients with advanced COPD for rehabilitation, home ventilation and lung volume reduction surgery. He is therefore expert in the clinical assessment of such patients including diverse measures of skeletal muscle strength and bulk. Clinically he is also expert in the management of sleep disorders including Obstructive Sleep Apnoea and in conditions requiring non-invasive respiratory support especially Motor Neurone Disease. Professor Polkey heads the respiratory muscle laboratory at Brompton which has the capacity to provide detailed assessment of respiratory muscle function including phrenic nerve stimulation and measurement of transdiaphragmatic pressure.