Information sadly lacking on O2 therapy.

[Bigyogi223]

Having read a number of posting relating to people's struggle to access the necessary information required to use O2 to it best effect it simply beggars belief that those responsible for prescribing it fail to provide appropriate ongoing support.

I have recently come up against the apparent lack of knowledge in relation to home and ambulant O2 use. Having picked up a chest infection over the weekend I was running out of O2 when I visited my GP, I told him I had urgent need of additional O2 and asked that he help me get an additional supply. He said he could not help and was about to send me home knowing I would run out within half an hour. I had had to use 6lts pm to get to his office and he seemed to think I could survive without any. I had to have him call an ambulance to get me to the local A&E as a short term place of safety. I knew they could support me untill arrangements could be made to drop more O2 at my home.

The so called perspirity nurse had no idea about my O2 needs, I was in A&E for 41/2 hours and they had me on 2lts pm throughout. This nurse tried to send me home knowing I would be without any O2. If I needed 2lts pm in an hospital environment sat still relaxed how on earth did she think I could survive on nothing. I had needed 6 lts pm just to get into A&E.

I later found out via my regular O2 nursing service that the respiritry nurse had admitted to her that she knew nothing at all about how patients use bottled O2 but rather than admit to her ignorance she simply tried to hid her incompitance by bullying me into leaving without an appropriate O2 supply.

If your GP and respiritry nurse has no idea what they are dealing with what chance do we as service users have?

I have made a formal complaint to the CEO of the health trust, let's see what happens next.