The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7433 p5
6 January 2007

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Home oxygen service cost soars, claims Pulse

The cost of home oxygen provision has soared since the service was transferred from community pharmacists to regional supply companies, an investigation by medical newspaper Pulse has suggested.

A survey of 35 primary care organisations found they had an average overspend on home oxygen of £210,000, although one had overspent by £1.2m on a budget of £380,000. Pulse quotes Peter Fellows, chairman of the General Practitioners’ Committee prescribing subcommittee: “Primary care trusts expected to save money under this system [but] pharmacists did a lot of work that was essentially unpaid. These big organisations are not going to do work for free.”

The Department of Health has, however, challenged Pulse’s claims. A spokeswoman told The Journal: “We do not agree with the figures published in Pulse. We have not yet completed the first year of this new service, and full information is not yet available to confirm the final cost to the NHS.”

Individual PCTs are responsible for financial management of the oxygen service contract, she explained. “The DoH and the NHS knew that PCTs in some service regions faced potentially higher service costs and so the Department supported the NHS in implementing these changes, meaning PCTs did not meet the full costs of these changes until 1 April 2006.”

PCTs are also getting more services for the money spent, she said. “For the first time patients have access to a new ambulatory oxygen service to support mobility and the contracts include new elements such as the requirement to support patients outside the home (eg, on holiday or at work) which were not previously a formal requirement.”

Lindsay McClure, head of information services at the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, said she was not surprised that the transition to the new service had cost more than expected. “The move was never soundly based and the chaos during the transition period has inevitably added to costs. This must serve as a lesson for the future.”