Holiday oxygen saga continues.

[BreatheasyBe]

I posted recently about ambulatory oxygen abroad. So this is where I’m at - Enquiries with Vivisol

“Vivitravel is the private arm of Dolby Vivisol. It would normally privately hire the loan of oxygen to assist with the flight/transfers, however this service has been suspended since the beginning of the pandemic and is still not operational in Scotland.”

They also sent me a list of possible oxygen suppliers…

healthoxygen.com – Pure 02 -0161 747 2617 

theoxygenstore.com/travelli... - the oxygen store - UK 01785 334316

oxygenworldwide.com

“You may also be entitled to reimbursement of any oxygen ordered for use abroad, this is the link to the GHIC card and details:

nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/health...

This website guides you through air travel when you have a lung condition:

europeanlung.org/en/informa...

I hope this information helps in the first instance.”

So I enquired about these companies and find out they are all private. The first two supply portable concentrators to take to your holiday no cylinders or lox is available unfortunately not suitable for my prescription as the portable concentrator only provide constant flow of 3lpm. The last supplier listed could however provide lox and provided the estimate below.

Oxygenworldwide

“To supply liquid oxygen with portable for 2 weeks in South of France would be:  863,20 euro

If you also wish a stationary concentrator for night time total price would be:   1.081,60 euro

All accessories weekly refills, transport & taxes included”

I queried if there were any reimbursement or subsidies for EHIC or GHIC card holders to receive the following reply:

“We are a private firm and have no ties or connections with insurance companies or care providers. 

This means any orders you place will have to be paid in full in advance. 

We do provide an invoice for you for the insurance to possibly claim back some of the cost, however we have no insight in how to do this.”

I emailed the Healthcare Team in Spain.

Reply:

This inbox is now closed and is no longer accepting enquiries from the general public.

You can still direct your query to NHS Business Services Authority by calling [phone].

Called the above number to be advised that as long as I use the authorised company to supply the ambulatory oxygen and equipment and with a valid EHIC or GHIC card I should be reimbursed or not charged. What they couldn’t tell me is who the authorised oxygen supplier companies are. So now I’ve to contact the relevant authorities for the area I’m planning on visiting… I’m puzzled so do they mean health authorities government? Unfortunately it was after 6pm when I was on the call and I felt I may need to end the call as it was closing time.

So some further digging and came across gov.uk/government/publicati...

It’s dated 2013 pre Brexit and pre covid. So not sure it’s the most relevant and up to date info.

I’ll need a holiday by the time I get round all of this. A big fat check win would be good too if I’m unsuccessful in getting financial subsidy for the oxygen.

[PaulineHM]

Hi BreatheasyBe,

A BIG Gold star for trying so hard to get 02 supplied outside of the UK and thanks for posting your findings.

This is why I simply gave up ever trying to get to Spain again for a stay through UK winter.

So unless someone has the ability to stump up the costs then it seems impossible for us to travel abroad.

Go well.

Pauline.

[Izb1]

What a palaver BreatheasyBe and so expensive along with the already over priced travel insurance and cost of holiday. You will need a holiday after all the stress of organising this x

[watergazer]

Bless you. What a lot of searching you’ve done and thanks for the info x

[purdeyspringer]

Hi BreatheasyBe, I have portable oxygen, which I have from my oxygen nurse. It only lasts an hour at a time then needs recharging, which doesn't take that long.I had to have oxygen when I flew home from Canada, it cost us $300 canadian dollars for 5 in-flight oxygen bottles, which we had to pay for before we flew, together with a letter from hospital, we claimed it back off insurance.

The oxygen company that supplies my portable unit is uk.healthcare.airliquide.com if that's of any help.

Hope you get the answers you need, and have a wonderful time in Spain.

[BreatheasyBe in reply to purdeyspringer]

Thank you for this additional contact details it may help someone who is thinking about traveling. Unfortunately the portable concentrators don’t meet my oxygen requirements… currently on 6-8 l/pm on constant flow and struggle with pulse mode or can only use it for very short tasks.

[purdeyspringer in reply to BreatheasyBe]

Oh OK, hope you get the help you need, take care .

[scooby777]

Hi BreatheasyBe

My husband and I are driving to the south of France towards the end of May, staying on a campsite for 3 weeks. We have been researching the provision of oxygen and have found what looks like a good solution for his needs.

He currently has ambulatory O2 at 8-10 litres/min, continuous flow. He has a static concentrator for the house, and cyclinders for outside, but we were open minded about the provision in France. He probably currently uses O2 for 2-3 hours a day, but I expect it could be more while we're away, as he'll be out and about a bit more (hopefully!)

Like you, we found Oxygen Worlwide quite expensive. They offered liquid oxygen at just over €1000 for 3 weeks.

The Oxygen Store could rent us a static concentrator to take with us, £810 for 4 weeks rental.

But for us, the French based company SOS Oxygène (sosoxygene.com/) seems to offer what we need. They have offices throughout France, and you contact the one covering the region you'll be staying in. In our case it's the Nîmes branch. They have been extremely responsive, and have phoned a couple of times to run through details.

We have opted for liquid oxygen at €105.31 / week. The main tank will be 45 or 60 litres (a Caire Liberator) with, I believe, the option of taking oxygen directly from it. In addition there will be 1.2 L portable tank. They will visit each week to replace / top up. We're only just finalising details, so I can't vouch for the actual service, but all the signs are promising so far. We haven't been asked for a deposit, and have done everything online e.g. returning a signed copy of the quote, making a bank transfer for payment.

We could also have rented a static concentrator from SOS Oxygène, which delivers up to 10L/min, for €57.75 / week, but think lox will be sufficient.

These costs seem very reasonable compared to other companies.

This of course doesn't cover my husband's needs while travelling. We'll take a few cylinders with us, and his portable concentrator (only 6L/min, so not ideal, but he'll manage to get from the car to a hotel room)

I hope you and other readers find some of this helpful. I'd be interested to know if you get anywhere with reimbursing costs.

Good luck, Sue

[BreatheasyBe]

Wow fantastic you’ve got so much further than me. If you use your GHIC/EHIC and use state hospitals or clinics you should be given the oxygen and pay the same as the locals. I believe in France the locals pay a contribution. Please keep me posted and have a fantastic break.

[scooby777 in reply to BreatheasyBe]

There's definitely an opening for someone to set up a service - even if it's just co-ordinating all the information, rules in different countries etc. For example how do you tap into the French state hospitals and clinics?

[BreatheasyBe]

I looked a few up online. Apparently call them directly I wasn’t successful in getting anyone who understood enough English or was able to put me through to the right department that wasn’t operating on an answer machine service. Pointless when I don’t speak the lingo and options were all in French. Wish I stuck in with languages at school now.

[scooby777]

An update- we're currently in France. We travelled slowly over 3 days, & hubby managed on 3 oxygen cylinders (leaving 4 for the return journey) & his portable concentrator as back up.I can't praise SOS Oxygène highly enough - they delivered when they said they would, & offered to return 2 days later in case we had any questions (we're new to LOX, but they showed us everything, with the receptionist from the campsite translating). They also supplied a static concentrator, at no extra cost, just in case we needed it. The technician came out again after a week to refill the tank, & will do so again next week. They supplied tubes & cannulas.

My husband's not been feeling great, but that's not new, & at least we're in the sun!

I was a bit anxious before we set off - but so far so good.

The oxygen supplied

[MEMYSELFANDI2024]

It's proving so difficult I just need a portable one for the hotel it's making me forget about going on holiday at this rate