Hi Tom. Yeah, this one is quite extraordinary. Getting O2 via the chemist has always worked well. I think it has been a bit of a pain in the ass for the chemists, but they are highly trained people, they understand the occasional need for O2 on an urgent basis, and they deliver. I do not understand why the goverment introduced the private sector in this fashion. It is very Thatcherite and the one of the reasons I voted for Blair (yes, I admit it, I did do the first time, I thought he would make a difference, yes I will now do my 8 years in purgartory, aka the NHS) was to get rid of crap like this. One has to wonder whether the guys who run these private O2 companies are mates of Tony's. The paperwork we have to do now to get O2 is beyond belief. I said: "A visit from two pharmacists who bring the HOOF protocol. A two page colour document with a complicated flow chart. HOOF stands for “Home Oxygen Order Form”. When a patient needs domiciliary oxygen, we used to write out a prescription and the chemist delivered it the next day. Now we have to complete the HOOF form, and the patient has to complete the HOCF form (that is the Home Oxygen Consent Form). When the HOOF and HOCF forms have been completed they have to be faxed to Allied Respiratory and two additional copies must be faxed to the nurse specialist at the hospital. Thank God that’s all been simplified." ++++++++++ Then this happened: Thursday 9th February I mentioned the new simplified system for providing oxygen for patients at home last week. We have been filling in HOOF forms all week as requested. Allied Respiratory (must check out who owns them – I wonder if they are friends of Tony’s?) cannot cope and so we are going back to the old system. We received this email today from the new “Prescribing Support Team”: To: All General Practitioners All Practice Managers Community Nurses 7 February 2006 Dear Colleague, Re: HOME OXYGEN SERVICE IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR DOCTORS/NURSES Due to the current problems the new supplier ‘Allied Respiratory’ is having with the demand for delivering oxygen supplies and the consistent problems patients and doctors are experiencing with the phone lines, we have been advised of the following arrangement that will assist with the supply of URGENT OXYGEN. FP10’s can be written for patients requiring urgent oxygen - they will be valid, honoured and reimbursed. This arrangement can be used if needed until 31st March 2006. Thank goodness we have the newly funded “prescribing support team”. This was formed to deal with the complications caused by the simplifications that have been introduced. I am sure the pharmacists and four nurse “specialists” on the “team” will all be justifying their salaries. This is a microcosm of the way the whole NHS functions under this government." ++++++++++ What I am puzzled about is this report that some guy was seen by a GP who wanted him to have urgent O2. It did not arrive, and the poor guy died 6 hours later. I cannot understand how someone could be so ill and not be send into hospital. As I said on NHS BLOG DOCTOR somewhere in the comments, I had an elderly patient last week who had run out of O2, and was v. SOB - so I called you guys who as normal arrived within 15 minutes, with some O2, and took her off to hospital. Frankly, all this could have been avoided (wasting your time and the hospital time) if it were not for the new system. But any systme that replaces a two line prescription and a telephone call to the local pharmacist with: http://www.bprs.co.uk/documents/oxygen/HOOF.pdf needs it's head examing. I hope Patricia Hewitt reads Random Acts