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Letters to the Editor
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Oxygen services
Expressing my point of view from a primary care perspective
From Ms L. Perkins, MRPharmS
I know there has been a great deal of correspondence about the new home
oxygen service but I should like to express my point of view from a primary
care perspective.
Seven weeks after the start of the new contract, it seems we are no nearer
to receiving the service we have been promised. As I see it, there are
a number of reasons for this: the lack of preparedness of the new oxygen
suppliers, the lack of preparation by primary care trusts and the Department
of Health’s specification.
I am a practice pharmacist working in two GP surgeries in Skipton, North
Yorkshire. We have between 20 and 30 patients currently using oxygen.
At the beginning of February, I submitted home oxygen order forms for
those patients I thought would need supplies during February. I have
yet to receive acknowledgement of these orders. I am receiving faxed
acknowledgement of new HOOFs, but still with instructions to issue an
FP10. The supplier is required to confirm to the GP when oxygen has been
provided to a patient — Air Products has yet to do this, although
I know of some patients who have received their oxygen. As GPs are continuing
to issue FP10s there is potential for duplication of the service.
I admire those correspondents from PCTs who have spent months preparing
for the new contract, but in my area there was no communication with
my practices by the PCT or Air Products until one week before the start
of the new contract. I have also been unable to get any indication from
the PCT or the supplier of when I can expect the service to be delivered
to specification. The latest Primary Care Contracting Oxygen newsletter
says FP10s should be issued until further notice. This implies that the
situation will not be resolved soon.
The Department of Health specification provided for a six-month transition
period to the new suppliers. How does this equate with the directive
to GPs not to issue FP10s after 31 January? Jeanette
Howe in her reply
in the PJ of 18 February (p204) seems unaware of this contradiction.
The specification is also short on detail of equipment to be provided.
The new suppliers are providing concentrators as standard, without any
regard for patients’ or carers’ individual requirements.
The provision of portable cylinders for patients using short-burst oxygen
is a particular concern. Air Products appears unwilling to provide these
in the number and capacity required.
Can the Department of Health solve the problem? The contract seems to
have been so ill-thought-out that I think it needs radical revision.
The other option would be to hand the provision of oxygen back to community
pharmacists, who have provided a responsive, professional service for
many years.
Lesley Perkins
Practice Pharmacist
Dyneley House Surgery and Fisher Medical Centre
Skipton,
North Yorkshire
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal