Recovery at home could stretch oxygen supply

NHS England has issued guidance to out-of-hospital health providers on the extra demands likely to be placed on them given the number of people recovering after a hospital stay with the coronavirus.

The health service has warned that demand for oxygen from coronavirus patients recovering at home is set to place the NHS under increasing strain, and said that the provision from its home oxygen services and community respiratory teams across the NHS is expected to be an issue as the scale of demand increases.

People with pre-existing severe respiratory conditions have been instructed to shield during the pandemic as they are at high risk from coronavirus. However, this may have led to a decrease in overall health and a greater need for services. A recent survey by the British Lung Foundation revealed that 59 per cent of the 14,000 patients questioned with a lung condition who are shielding said they were less fit since lockdown began.

Andrew Whittamore, a practising GP and clinical lead for the Asthma UK and British Lung Foundation partnership, said concerns about the potential for hospitals to be overwhelmed in the early part of the pandemic had led to community oxygen teams being primed to take on more patients – but he described that ramping up as ‘a short-term fix’.

Jackie Eagleton, policy officer at the British Lung Foundation, said there had been issues with access to pulmonary rehabilitation for a long time, but the need to offer this form of support to people with lung conditions ‘has never been more pressing than it is now’.

The Taskforce for Lung Health suggests that increasing access to pulmonary rehabilitation for lung patients could save the NHS £69 million annually by avoiding exacerbations in their conditions. The cost of a single exacerbation for someone with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is estimated to be approximately £175.