URGENT help about home oxygen please

[MoaningMingeWhingesAgain]

It's for my neighbour, I need to help him.

He is on home oxygen from a concentrator. He doesn't currently have an O2 canister for emergencies/powercuts or for going out of the house.

He needs one urgently so he can go to visit his dying wife in hospital Next day or so.

How can we help him arrange one quickly? The GP practice say they can't help. I know a little bit about it but not enough to sort it out for them, IYKWIM. Will pop back in a bit

There will be a central office/clinic probably based at the hospital where they sort out schedules for supplying people with their mobile oxygen cylinders. Ring your local hospital, but may have gone home at 5. But worth a try.

Might be called community oxygen service or home oxygen service. If you google those phrases with your county name you might find something.

And if you can't find it from google and hospital switchboard can't help ask to be put through to the respiratory ward. The nurses there might know.

Thanks Viva.

Have dug out numbers for the DNs, respiratory nursing teams, respiratory ward, GP OOH - am determined to try to sort something out quickly. I think we won't be able to sort anything until the morning realistically, just hope it's not too late

Is wife in hospital?

I don't see why GP can't ring air products and get emergency delivery?

I have just been round to him and there is a rather large canister they must have hidden somewhere and forgotten about. I have found the number for air products and will ring them first thing to see if they can bring a smaller more portable one, but he can go with the big one if needed.

Yes, his wife (his main carer) is in hospital, critically ill and not expected to come home When the relative asked the GP practice they said they couldn't arrange anything - which sounds like bollocks to me.

Hopefully he will get to see her to say goodbye before it's too late - it was not expected.

Second previous advice about GP contacting Air Products. They can just arrange portable oxygen - don't know why they are making the poor man's life more difficult than it already is. Not very compassionate. Air Products are usually fab - have you contacted them and explained the situation. There should be an info book in the house and there's usually a number on the concentrator too.

Dh (respiratory doc) says the gp should be able to help, try them again. Also are there contact details for an oxygen supplier on the concentrator? You might be able to call them direct for advice.

Thanks everyone. I might give them a try tonight in case they have an answerphone that I could leave a message on for them. I feel so sorry for him, he is the one that's usually ill/getting taken into hospital and he is missing her so much.

Cross posted, sounds like you've made some progress. Good luck.

Air Products have an out of hours number and IME are excellent at bringing oxygen especially if you explain the situation. The number should be on the front of the compressor. Good luck.

this might be totally unreasonable but i dont know..
couldnt you very quickly drive him to the hospital and then as soon as he gets to where his wife is he can use the oxygen there?
a phone call to her ward may sort it out?

if not, i hope you find a solution!
your a very good neighbour :)

Have rung air products and spoke to a nice chap - but they no longer supply his O2 - it's air liquide now. I have a number but it's only for dire emergencies OOH - not sure whether to see if this counts, it's for nearly ran out of oxygen or concentrator not working properly really.

I would just take him, the hospital is not far at all, but TBH he is so short of breath he would be knackered by the time we get to the car, he has really bad COPD. I'm a nurse (not working as one right now) and I have been helping as much as I can but it's always flaming OOH when things go wrong, isn't it.

I am going back later to help get him to bed.

oh, are you by any chance in Lancashire? our supply has just changed to Air Liquide and they are no where near as helpful. I would ring the emergency line.
If you are in Lancashire I have a couple of spare travelling canisters. PM me? They are my daughters and her prescription is very low so it might not do.

Ring the respiratory ward, and explain. See if you can collect a canister to ferry him to hospital with. If I was a nurse on that ward, I'd be doing everything in my power to sort it.

Oxygen is a prescribed product so you can't just rock up at hospital and ask to use theirs.

OOH won't be able to do much, if anything, IME as they aren't generally able to change or start prescriptions for LTOT (Long term oxygen therapy).

The GP should be able to do it but are unlikely to be able to do it quickly; generally once the original referral has been made all arrangements tend to be done through the oxygen provider company directly (which does make sense, cutting out the middleman ie the GP) . So if that's Air Liquide I would target them!

Not in Lancashire, no, but thanks. I have spoken to the emergency line at Air Liquide and they can't do it without a separate prescription from the respiratory team (not the GP) specifically for a portable canister.

But they can do it 'same day' if the prescriber marks it as urgent. So I have spoken to his relative and we are going to ask for an urgent prescription first thing, and hope we can get it tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Oh great, good luck!!

I decided to try Air Liquide, I figured the worst thing they can do is say no so it was worth a try. Hopefully we can sort it in time.

I thought that as he already has O2 prescribed they might be able to do it, I didn't know he needed a new script for a portable, which is a bit of a shame. But we can only do what we can.

You're a lovely neighbour

So sorry for the sad situation this man is in. I work in a gp practice and look after the home oxygen orders - it is surprisingly complicated and as, you rightly say, all down to the prescription. Also, the O2 prescriptions are from hospital consultants, not GP. My best suggestion for the urgent situation is to try and contact his respiratory consultant's secretary first thing in the morning and explain the situation.

I have instructed the relative that if they won't prescribe it as an urgent request, then the next phone call is straight to PALS. We can't leave the poor man trapped in his house unable to say goodbye and they are hoping to take him to visit in the afternoon because SS are coming to assess him for homecare/placement tomorrow as well, because she cared for him. I have helped them sort out his night bag and things but he needs a lot of help really.

It's just come out of the blue really. I have lived next door to them for 10 years.

Lucky man to have you as a neighbour.

What sleeze said x 10 .

I think what sidge says is good advice ..

Good luck today .

What would happen if he had a hospital appointment? Would the transport have oxygen on board? If so, could you arrange patient transport with the hospital (I don't mean an emergency ambulance).