Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the name for a group of lung conditions that cause breathing difficulties.
Home oxygen therapy
Oxygen is given to some people at home who are living with a lung condition and have persistently low blood oxygen levels.
Oxygen therapy can also help people with a range of health conditions. The most common is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Others include severe long-term asthma and people with heart failure.
People who need home oxygen therapy can have different requirements. Some people may only need treatment for short periods during the days when walking about, whilst others may need it for longer periods both day and night.
Home oxygen therapy is not a treatment for breathlessness, although it will help reduce breathlessness for people with low blood oxygen levels. Its main aim is to reduce strain on the heart, which can help prolong life expectancy. It can also reduce tiredness and make it easier to carry out activities that may otherwise be difficult.
Before you are prescribed home oxygen therapy, you must first be referred for by a healthcare professional for an oxygen assessment.
Oxygen assessments can include several tests, such as blood and sometimes exercise or walking tests. If oxygen home therapy is suitable for you based on these tests, you will be assessed by another health care professional who will prescribe you the right amount and make the necessary arrangements.
Your local respiratory service may be responsible for your oxygen assessment, depending on where you live. Find out more about home oxygen therapy on the Asthma+Lung UK website.
Pulmonary rehabilitation
Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is a treatment programme for people who are having difficulty managing symptoms associated with a breathing problem.
Problems such as cough, shortness of breath and repeated chest infections can be managed with a combination of education and exercise. This is provided through PR. You might be referred for this by a GP or practice nurse, or your local respiratory service.
PR is usually run for groups of 8-16 people and will typically last 6-8 weeks. The sessions are held in hospitals, community halls, leisure centres and health centres.
Find out more about pulmonary rehabilitation on the Asthma+Lung UK website.
Local respiratory services
Community respiratory services support people with conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, bronchiectasis, Interstitial Lung Disease, tuberculosis, and obstructive sleep apnoea.
Services are provided by teams of specialist nurses and physiotherapists supported by respiratory consultants. They assess, treat, monitor, and review patients in their home or in community clinics.
If you have one of these conditions, the service will work with you, and the people caring for you, to manage your condition so that you stay well and have a good quality of life. We want to prevent your condition from getting worse and avoid you needing to be admitted to hospital.
You will usually be referred into a community respiratory service by your GP or specialist nurse or by a hospital specialist.
The service provides personalised support according to your needs and is provided by different organisations across Hertfordshire and west Essex. The service you receive will depend on where you live. This can include:
- Support for patients coming out of hospital who need additional help when they go home.
- Home oxygen service, including assessment and review, for patients diagnosed with a long- term respiratory condition such as COPD who need oxygen therapy.
- Respiratory and pulmonary rehabilitation and support including pulmonary rehabilitation clinics run with input from hospital consultants and a pulmonary rehabilitation education and self-management programme for patients with chronic respiratory disease.
- Reviewing and managing medication to make sure that people are on the most effective medication for their needs.
You can find out more about your local service by following the links below.
Community respiratory service in south and west Hertfordshire (provided by Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust together with West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust)
Community respiratory service in east and north Hertfordshire (provided by Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust together with East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust)
Community respiratory service in west Essex (provided by Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust)