Home oxygen therapy is prescribed for treating chronic hypoxia, commonly in severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as well as other respiratory diseases, cardiac conditions, or for cluster headaches. The service involves multidisciplinary teams optimizing oxygen therapy benefits, ensuring safety, and enhancing patient experiences with supportive care.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusions

• adult patients registered with an Haringey or Islington GP who have been prescribed home oxygen as above.

Please note: It is the GP address, not the patient address, that determines which HOS-R team takes on reviewing a patient.

Exclusions

Home oxygen therapy is only one component of the management of patients with severe and/or complex respiratory disease who also need to continue under the care of a respiratory team. In particular, this patient group is often also living with disabling and/or frightening breathlessness. Hence, the Haringey and Islington HOS-R services does not provide:

• oxygen assessments for new prescriptions:
  • referrals for assessment for a new oxygen prescription should be made as a referral to a respiratory clinician/respiratory service; before a new prescription for home oxygen, patients need a specialist respiratory assessment in order to:
    • review diagnosis and reason for deterioration
    • optimise treatment that might reverse hypoxia
    • review impact, understanding and management of breathlessness
    • start advance care planning conversations
    • agree plan for continued respiratory input into care.
  • for new oxygen needs, which usually reflect a change in disease course (e.g. change in ambulatory oxygen needs); referrals for assessment should be made back to the respiratory team looking after the patient's underlying condition. 
  • for acute deterioration (worsening hypoxia), patients should be referred for urgent respiratory review/admission for diagnosis and management of new respiratory failure.
• reviews for patients prescribed oxygen for cluster headaches by neurologists:
  • queries for this patient group should be addressed to their neurologist.

How to Refer