Many children with a variety of severe chronic lung problems are looked after at home and are given extra oxygen. Surprisingly, little information exists on these children, their particular lung conditions, and what happens to them over time. This information is vital to see if the provision of home oxygen to children is working well and whether changes are needed to ensure that children are getting the best treatment from this service.
The way that home oxygen is provided changed in February 2006 so that there is now a single order form that is filled in by the doctor and sent to the companies who provide the home oxygen. With the help of BLF funding, Dr Balfour-Lynn and his research team have collected information on these children and produced a national (England & Wales) database. By asking for a copy of each form to be sent to the research team, Dr Balfour-Lynn has identified that the largest group of children who are prescribed home oxygen are ex-premature babies who have chronic lung disease. They now also have the details of children in England and Wales who receive home oxygen and will be able to monitor them over many years to see how they progress.
We hope that this evaluation of how oxygen is prescribed to infants and children will lead to improvements in what is prescribed, how it is delivered and how these children are cared for.
Relevant diseases: Chronic neonatal lung disease, cystic fibrosis, paediatric interstitial lung disease, pulmonary hypertension
Relevant age groups: Children
Amount awarded: £14,972
Duration: 12 months
