[holding answer 17 January 2008]: Prior to the introduction of the new home oxygen service on 1 February 2006, patients received their oxygen through pharmacies and oxygen concentrator suppliers. Patient data prior to the introduction of the new service in 2006 are not held centrally.
The full transition to the new service was completed in November 2006. During transition the pharmacies continued to supply patients, therefore records from this period do not accurately reflect patient numbers. The first accurate patient data are available from January 2007 onwards. These data reflect the total number of patients receiving oxygen at home.
January 2007 January 2008 Total number of patients in England 74,000 82,000 Total number of patients in Wales 7,000 7,000
[holding answer 17 January 2008]: The current suppliers to the Home Oxygen Service are Air Products, Air Liquide and BOC. Air Liquide acquired Linde UK Gas on 31 May 2007, and Allied Respiratory on 30 September 2007, who were previous additional oxygen suppliers.
With the introduction of the new Home Oxygen Service on 1 February 2006, the service contract requires the suppliers to meet specific response times for each oxygen service provided under the contract.
These are:
emergency or urgent supply of oxygen to be delivered within four hours of receipt of an order from a healthcare professional;
an order supporting the discharge of a patient from hospital to be delivered on the day following receipt of the order or on a date specified by the healthcare professional in the order; and
an order for short burst oxygen therapy, long-term oxygen therapy, or an ambulatory oxygen service to be provided within three working days of receipt of an order either from a healthcare professional or from the patient directly.
Each supplier must meet these service requirements under the terms of the contract and delivery times are a key indicator used in monitoring supplier performance.