HC Deb 23 November 1983 vol 49 cc191-2W
Mr. Dobson

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many Health Service regions and districts, respectively, are chaired by people known by him or his Department to be members or open supporters of the Conservative party and how many of the Labour party.

Mr. Kenneth Clarke

We do not make these appointments on a political basis. I see no worthwhile disease at home or in hospital because of the wide variation in the treatment and supporting services required in individual homes. The cost of oxygen supplied at hospitals is not recorded separately but is subsumed in the overall costs of medical gases used for inpatient care. The Medical Research Council gave advice to the health departments on the use of long-term oxygen therapy in December 1982, and referred in this to the need to study the relative costs and benefits of using oxygen concentrators and oxygen cylinders.

The Department has commissioned a pilot study to determine the feasibility of providing concentrators instead of cylinders on a national scale, the relative costs of the two methods of supply, and the circumstances in which concentrators would be more economic than cylinders to provide in the home. The question of extending the use of concentrators will need to be considered in the light of this study, the results of which are expected shortly.

Mr. Carter-Jones

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he has assessed the relative fire risks in the use of oxygen concentrators compared with the use of pure oxygen as supplied in bottles; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. John Patten

Oxygen is a non-flammable gas, but will support combustion. Fire risks from using either oxygen concentrators or bottled oxygen are relatively small. Oxygen concentrators are an alternative means of supplying the domiciliary patient with long-term oxygen therapy. This system differs from supply by cylinder in that the oxygen is separated from the air by an electromechanical device. As in the case with all electro-medical equipment, the appropriate British standard requires safety devices to be incorporated in oxygen concentration. The patient using an oxygen concentrator complying with the standard is therefore in no greater danger than he or she would be from normal domestic electrical apparatus.