Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what supplies of oxygen are currently held by the NHS in England; what is the optimum level of oxygen supplies the NHS in England should hold; if supplies are currently below the optimum level, what is their plan to increase supplies to the optimum level; and what is the timescale for this plan.
Based on data provided by those companies as of 19 May 2020, the suppliers have provided the following details of oxygen levels across hospitals in England.
Supplier | Estimated fill level (metric tonnes) | Tank capacity (metric tonnes) | Percentage of capacity |
BOC Healthcare | 4,740 | 6,196 | 76% |
Air Products | 1,024 | 1,390 | 74% |
In addition to bulk oxygen supplies, there are also hundreds of thousands of medical oxygen cylinders in circulation from several different suppliers, the vast majority of which will be held by NHS trusts. These are available in a wide range of sizes and capacities to meet different uses. Optimum levels for cylinder oxygen would be determined locally by each hospital and trust. This information is not collected centrally. However, we are unaware of any instances where cylinder oxygen has not been available to treat patients.