Oxygen treatment assessment

If you have a long-term medical condition and your doctor thinks oxygen treatment might be helpful, you'll be asked to visit your nearest oxygen clinic for an assessment.

During the assessment it's likely that the amount of oxygen in your blood will be measuredby taking a blood sample from your earlobe or wrist, or attaching a sensor to your finger (a pulse oximetry test). You may also be asked to breathe into a device called a spirometer during a spirometry test .

Regular oxygen treatment may be recommendedif the amount of oxygen in your blood is low. It's important that home oxygen treatment is only given if test results indicate that it's needed. This is because studies have shown that if oxygen is given just for breathlessness it can cause unnecessary harm.

If you decide to have oxygen treatment at home,a healthcare professional at the oxygen clinic will help you work out how much oxygen youll need andhow long youll need it for. They'll also discuss the different ways you can get oxygen at home (see below).

You'll be asked to fill in a consent form to get home oxygen treatment. This is because, in order to provide you with the equipment and oxygen, theoxygen clinicwill need to share some information about your requirements with other NHS organisations. They'll also need permission to send an engineer to your home to install the equipment and explain how to use it, deliver new supplies of oxygen and check your equipment every so often.

Once you've agreed this with the oxygen clinic, they'll complete a home oxygen order form for you.This is similar to a prescription and it's sentto the company delivering your oxygen and equipment.

The oxygen equipment will be delivered to your home and installed by one of the oxygen companys engineers. They'll also explain how it works.