Oxygen concentrator helps meet surge indemand

Like many large acute hospitals, London’s Charing Cross Hospital in west London has seen increased oxygen demand over the past six months, and in March, with the coronavirus pandemic beginning to ramp up, its Estates team found the site’s existing oxygen VIE (Vacuum Insulated Evaporator) was already beginning to struggle to meet demand, and would not be capable of meeting the predicted COVID-19 surge demand. As HEJ reports, when two already overstretched oxygen suppliers were unable to help upgrade the VIE, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust’s long-standing medical gas pipeline supplier, SHJ Medical Gas Specialists, stepped in to help with an oxygen concentrator-based solution.

In March this year – when the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were beginning to hit the UK – the Estates Department at Charing Cross Hospital (part of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust) started to prepare for the first influx of patients. While the oxygen infrastructure pipework at the hospital was good, the site’s Vacuum Insulated Evaporator (VIE) was struggling to supply the predicted surge requirements. Although technically capable of delivering 3,000 litres per minute, the vaporisers created a pinch point, bringing the supply down to just 1,833 L/min. The Trust contacted two major oxygen suppliers to request assistance with upgrading the VIE, or providing additional VIE plant, but, with their resources stretched nationwide, and directed primarily to new field hospitals, neither was able to help. Charing Cross Hospital was then facing the prospect of having to turn patients away.

Oxygen concentrator solution