Wards on brink hit by oxygen shortage

A SERIOUS shortage of oxygen on hospital wards has sparked a hunt for life-saving supplies.

Last week hospitals and pharmacies issued urgent appeals for unused cylinders and, in one case, a man with an incurable lung disease was asked to donate.

Peterwynne, 80, from Goring, Oxfordshire, was called by an NHS respiratory nurse.

The father of five said: “I was very surprised. If I had to give up my cylinders it would take me a very short time to expire.”

One health expert has said the oxygen shortage is creating a “national emergency”. At the same time, NHS England has warned trusts to reduce the risk of their supply suddenly running short. It came after a London teaching hospital almost ran out.

That prompted NHS bosses to limit the number of people they put on ventilators and continuous positive airway pressure machines.

Trusts were warned that “far more patients will need oxygen therapy and ventilation and this is a risk to delivery systems”.

Yesterday, Watford General Hospital declared a critical incident and urged patients to go to other A&ES after technical problems with its oxygen kit.