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Oxygen

Resources

Oxygen FAQs

  1. What should I do with requests to prescribe oxygen? 
  2. How to manage oxygen therapy outside acute settings?

1. What should I do with requests to prescribe oxygen? (updated 6 April 2020)

  • Patients admitted with COVID-19 and respiratory failure remain in hospital until their hypoxia improves and they return to their baseline target oxygen saturations without an ongoing oxygen requirement. There should not be any requests for GPs to prescribe oxygen following discharge from any Trusts. This has been agreed with BHRUT and Barts Health.
  • There is no current recommended home oxygen pathway for supporting unselected patients with COVID-19 with oxygen therapy at home
  • Patients with COVID-19 complicating COPD or another long term respiratory disease may be considered for hospital discharge with oxygen, if clinically appropriate, as part of a supported discharge pathway in which case BTS Home Oxygen and NICE COPD guidance should be followed. This will be completed by the respiratory team in the acute Trust and followed up by the respective BHR HOS-AR service in the community. GPs should not prescribe oxygen and any requests should be referred to the respective HOS-AR team
  • Home oxygen concentrators are for named patients only. All requests for home oxygen must be ordered by a registered healthcare professional by completing the following required forms per named patient: home oxygen order form (HOOF), initial home oxygen risk mitigation form (IHORM) and home oxygen consent form (HOCF). GPs should not prescribe oxygen and any requests should be referred to the respective HOS-AR team. See NHSE COVID-19 Home Oxygen concentrator letter for more information

N.B. Messages have been sent out to all current home oxygen users – refer to Home oxygen supply during the COVID-19 outbreak letter, details include:

  • Cylinders will be delivered and left outside the user's property as much as possible. Contact with home oxygen users will be kept to a minimum for everyone's safety
  • All holiday installations are suspended until the COVID-19 situation is resolved
  • Home oxygen is only for the named person for whom it is prescribed. If other family members are unwell and need oxygen, this should be authorised by a registered healthcare professional
  • Users with equipment at two addresses may be contacted to arrange temporary removal from one address during this pandemic as high-risk home oxygen users should be self-isolating at home
  • Some users will be contacted to request removal of their back-up cylinders for concentrators for emergency ambulatory oxygen
  • Some users may be contacted to request removal of their second concentrator
  • Some users may be contacted to request removal of excess transportable concentrators given they should not be leaving their properties
  • Where a user’s prescribed oxygen usage is low, or where they have both a concentrator and ambulatory cylinders, they may be contacted to request removal of their large back-up cylinder

2. How to manage oxygen therapy outside acute settings?

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