Home oxygen therapy involves breathing in air that contains more oxygen than normal through a mask or tube connected to a device in your home.
Who can benefit from home oxygen therapy?
Home oxygen therapy can be useful for people who do not have enough oxygen in their blood.
It can help with conditions such as:
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- pulmonary fibrosis
- heart failure
- severe long-term asthma
- pulmonary hypertension
- cystic fibrosis
- breathing problems caused by a combination of being obese and having an underlying condition
Home oxygen therapy can help with symptoms such as:
- breathlessness
- feeling tired all the time
- memory problems
- coughing
Getting assessed for home oxygen therapy
Your doctor will refer you to a specialist clinic if they think your symptoms can be helped by home oxygen therapy.
To check the amount of oxygen in your blood, you may have a blood test and an oxygen sensor may be attached to your finger or earlobe (a pulse oximetry test).
You may also be asked to breathe into a device that checks how well your lungs are working. This test is called spirometry.
Using home oxygen therapy
The main ways of using home oxygen therapy are through:
- short tubes placed in your nostrils – this is called a nasal cannula
- a mask over your nose and mouth
Some people may need a tube inserted into an opening made in the front of their neck (a tracheostomy) or a tube placed in their mouth and down their windpipe.
There are 3 types of devices that can be used to give you oxygen:
- an oxygen concentrator
- large oxygen cylinders
- portable cylinders
An engineer will install the equipment and explain how to use it safely.
Oxygen concentrator machine
An oxygen concentrator is recommended if you need to have oxygen for most of the day (including when you’re asleep).
The machine is about the size of a home printer and plugs into an electrical socket.
Large oxygen cylinders
Oxygen cylinders will probably be prescribed if you only need oxygen for a short time – for example, if you need to relieve sudden periods of breathlessness.
Portable oxygen cylinders
It may be possible to use a small, portable oxygen cylinder outside your home. This is called portable oxygen or ambulatory oxygen.
Most portable oxygen cylinders weigh around 2kg and are small enough to fit inside a small backpack or shopping trolley. This size cylinder holds just under 2 hours’ worth of oxygen.
Portable oxygen cylinders are not suitable for everyone.
Oxygen suppliers
There are 4 companies in England that provide home oxygen services for the NHS. Each covers a different geographical area. You can contact your supplier if you have a question about your device.
- Air Liquide:
- 0808 143 9991 for London
- 0808 143 9999 for the South West of England
- Baywater Healthcare: covers the North West of England, Yorkshire and The Humber, West Midlands and Wales (0800 373 580)
- BOC: covers the East of England, East Midlands and Northern Ireland (0800 136 603)
- Dolby Vivisol: covers the North East of England and the South East of England (0800 917 9840)
Going on holiday
As long as you’re well enough to travel and you plan in advance, you should be able to go on holiday while using oxygen.
Speak to staff at your local clinic as soon as possible if you’re thinking about going on holiday, particularly if you want to go abroad.
They can advise you about what you need to do to stay safe while you’re away.
You will also need travel insurance.
If you’re going on holiday in the UK, talk to your oxygen supplier to see if it’s possible for oxygen to be delivered to your destination. Try to give them as much notice as possible.
The British Lung Foundation website has more information and advice about going on holiday with a lung condition.
Using oxygen safely
Do
-
install fire alarms and smoke detectors in your home and make sure they’re working
-
tell your local fire brigade that you have oxygen at home
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keep your device at least 3 metres away from any appliances that use an open flame, such as a gas cooker or gas fire
-
keep your device at least 1.5 metres away from other electrical appliances, such as a television, hair dryer or electrical heater
Don’t
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do not smoke, or let anyone smoke near you, when using your device – also smoking will make your oxygen therapy far less effective
-
do not use flammable liquids, such as cleaning fluid, paint thinner or aerosols when using your device
-
do not use oil-based emollients, such as Vaseline, when using your device
Page last reviewed: 18 August 2020
Next review due: 18 August 2023
19 March 2018
[Image: Douglas Waters, one of the patients who had the operation, with (left to right) Prof Lyndon da Cruz, Douglas’s wife Freda Waters, and Odysseas Georgiadis].
Patients regain sight after being first to receive retinal tissue engineered from stem cells
- Successful trial on patients using new stem cell based treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
- Results from a clinical study suggest the treatment is safe and effective.
- The study is a major milestone for the London Project to Cure Blindness and could lead to an ‘off-the-shelf’ treatment within five years.
The first patients to receive a new treatment derived from stem cells for people with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have regained reading vision.
The results of this ground-breaking clinical study, published in Nature Biotech, described the implantation of a specially engineered patch of retinal pigment epithelium cells derived from stem cells to treat people with sudden severe sight loss from wet AMD. It is hoped that it will also help treat dry AMD in the future.
It’s the first description of a complete engineered tissue that has been successfully used in this way.
The study is a major milestone for the London Project to Cure Blindness, a partnership between Professor Pete Coffey from University College London and Professor Lyndon da Cruz, a retinal surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The Project has also been supported by the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
AMD is the most common cause of sight loss in the UK, and can lead to a rapid loss of central (reading) vision. The two patients who underwent the procedure, a woman in her early 60s and a man in his 80s, had the severe form of the condition (wet AMD) and declining vision.
The study investigated whether the diseased cells at the back the patients’ affected eye could be replenished using the stem cell based patch. A specially engineered surgical tool was used to insert the patch under the retina in the affected eye of each patient in an operation lasting one to two hours.
The patients were monitored for 12 months and reported improvements to their vision. They went from not being able to read at all even with glasses, to reading 60-80 words per minute with normal reading glasses.
Douglas Waters, 86, one of the two people who received the treatment at Moorfields Eye Hospital.
Douglas Waters, 86, from Croydon, London, was one of two people who had received the treatment at Moorfields Eye Hospital. He developed severe wet AMD in July 2015 and received the treatment three months later in his right eye. He says: “In the months before the operation my sight was really poor and I couldn’t see anything out of my right eye. I was struggling to see things clearly, even when up-close. After the surgery my eyesight improved to the point where I can now read the newspaper and help my wife out with the gardening. It’s brilliant what the team have done and I feel so lucky to have been given my sight back.”
Professor Lyndon da Cruz, consultant retinal surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said:
“The results suggest that this new therapeutic approach is safe and provides good visual outcomes. The patients who received the treatment had very severe AMD, and their improved vision will go some way towards enhancing their quality of life. We recognise that this is a small group of patients, but we hope that what we have learned from this study will benefit many more in the future.”
Professor Pete Coffey, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology said:
“This study represents real progress in regenerative medicine and opens the door to new treatment options for people with age-related macular degeneration. We hope this will lead to an affordable ‘off-the-shelf’ therapy that could be made available to NHS patients within the next five years.”
Robert Dufton, chief executive of Moorfields Eye Charity said:
“The results from this trial are fantastic and the culmination of years of research by the London Project team. Philanthropy has played a critical role in the London Project since its inception and we are delighted that this support continues through Moorfields Eye Charity. This ground-breaking milestone demonstrates the real impact philanthropy plays in creating life-changing moments, such as helping someone regain their sight.”
For Q&A’s about the London Project to Cure Blindness, please visit: https://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/londonproject
