Home Oxygen Therapy

Home oxygen therapy involves breathing in air that contains more oxygen than normal through a mask or tube connected to a device in your home.

Who can benefit from home oxygen therapy?

Home oxygen therapy can be useful for people who do not have enough oxygen in their blood.

It can help with conditions such as:

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

pulmonary fibrosis

heart failure

severe long-term asthma

pulmonary hypertension

cystic fibrosis

breathing problems caused by a combination of being obese and having an underlying condition

Getting assessed for home oxygen therapy

Your doctor will refer you to a specialist clinic if they think your symptoms can be helped by home oxygen therapy.

To check the amount of oxygen in your blood, you may have a blood test and an oxygen sensor may be attached to your finger or earlobe (a pulse oximetry test).

You may also be asked to do an exercise or a walking test to check if you'll benefit from home oxygen therapy.

Using home oxygen therapy

The main ways of using home oxygen therapy are through:

short tubes placed in your nostrils – this is called a nasal cannula

a mask over your nose and mouth

There are 3 types of devices that can be used to give you oxygen:

an oxygen concentrator

large oxygen cylinders

portable cylinders

An engineer will install the equipment and explain how to use it safely.

Oxygen concentrator machine

An oxygen concentrator is recommended if you need to have oxygen for most of the day (including when you're asleep).

The machine is about the size of a bedside table and plugs into an electrical socket.

Large oxygen cylinders

Oxygen cylinders will probably be prescribed if you only need oxygen for a short time – for example, if you need to relieve sudden periods of breathlessness.

Portable oxygen cylinders

It may be possible to use a small, portable oxygen cylinder outside your house or when moving around at home. This is called portable oxygen or ambulatory oxygen.

Most portable oxygen cylinders weigh around 2-3kg and are small enough to fit inside a small backpack or shopping trolley. This size cylinder holds up to 3 hours' worth of oxygen.

Portable oxygen cylinders are not suitable for everyone.

Do

keep the room you are using the device in well ventilated

install fire alarms and smoke detectors in your home and make sure they're working

tell your local fire brigade that you have oxygen at home who can then arrange a free fire safety check

keep your device at least 3 metres away from any appliances that use an open flame, such as a gas cooker or gas fire

keep your device at least 1.5 metres away from other electrical appliances, such as a television, hair dryer or heat sources, such as radiators or electrical heaters

Don’t

do not smoke, or let anyone smoke near you, when using your device – also smoking will make your oxygen therapy far less effective

do not use flammable liquids, such as cleaning fluid, paint thinner or aerosols when using your device

do not use oil-based emollients, such as Vaseline, when using your device as this can be a fire risk – your care team or pharmacist should be able to recommend alternative products