The Home Oxygen Service

I have discussed at length the issues that have arisen following the introduction of the new home oxygen service on 1 February in both committee and elsewhere. This paper details the progress and steps taken towards successful completion of a recovery plan. I continue to be grateful to the pharmacists who have provided a contingency service to patients since then.

The strategic objectives of the plan are to:

- achieve contract response times;
-  timely supply for new patients;
- eliminate the backlog of valid orders by 31 May – now substantially achieved; and
- complete a managed, orderly withdrawal of pharmacies by 31 July.

Officials have held regular meetings with Air Products and the Department of Health throughout.  They have also been involved in two series of regional meetings with Local Health Boards (LHBs) to discuss the principles of the plan; and a further series will occur early in June to finalise arrangements.

LHBs have compiled data on pharmacies supplying specific patients. Early this month they will also participate in a project to validate Home Oxygen Order Form (HOOF) data with GP data.  This should identify the total number of oxygen patients; including those already supplied by the company; those supplied by both company and community pharmacy; and intermittent users who have yet to present a requirement for fresh supplies.  

The company will then implement a phased programme to deliver a complete supply to their concentrator patients who are also receiving cylinders from community pharmacy and agree appropriate supply dates with intermittent users thereby facilitating withdrawal of community pharmacy.

Air Products has set up a specific unit dedicated to data cleansing which will ensure that HOOFs are accurate in every respect, so that information will become more reliable, and patient details are reliable.

Data from Air Products states that as of 15 May they were providing >90% of oxygen therapies they knew were required to approximately 5100 patients across Wales

The current picture across LHBs varies considerably, with Flintshire having 90% of their patients serviced by Air Products, but Bridgend with only 71%.  There is no doubt that where LHBs are actively verifying their patient database and driving the process, progress with assimilation is quicker.

My officials are continuing discussions to commissioning an independent evaluation of the first 3 months to identify weaknesses and develop appropriate procedures to prevent such issues arising in the future.