PARAMEDICS at South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS) have become the first in the country to supply high risk COVID-19 patients with home oxygen monitoring kits.

The initiative, which began in Hampshire, will ensure patients who have mild symptoms but have other risk factors, such as age over 65 years, cancer or other health conditions, can monitor their oxygen levels and know when to seek help.

The packs contain a pulse oximeter device, a symptom diary and a set of strict guidelines and are only distributed to patients who require emergency assessment by the ambulance service.

The development follows recent research by clinicians at SCAS which identified that just a slight drop in blood oxygen levels – but within the normal range – could be an early important warning sign of deterioration in patients before the onset of breathlessness.

In most cases of bacteria and non-Covid pneumonia, shortness of breath appears relatively early in the disease and ahead of any significant drop in oxygen levels, known as hypoxia.

However, with COVID-19, a drop in oxygen levels often comes first, which is referred to as “silent hypoxia”, and patients can be significantly unwell by the time they become breathless.

The study which was led by Dr Matthew Inada-Kim, a Consultant in General and Acute Medicine at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, monitored almost 20,000 patients who called for an ambulance between March 1 and July 31 last year.

They then analysed the oxygen levels of 1,080 confirmed Covid positive patients at the point they were initially assessed by paramedics at home.

Patients whose blood oxygen levels dropped only 1 per cent to 2 per cent below 96 per cent – still within the normal range of 94 per cent to 98 per cent – and showed no signs of shortness of breath often went on to require admission to intensive care and had a lower chance of survival.

NHS England have now launched a nationwide rollout of the initiative and around 300,000 devices have been supplied to patients across the country.

The oximeters work by placing a clip on the end of a finger to measure oxygen in the blood and heart rate and, if oxygen levels drop to 94 per cent or 93 per cent, patients are asked to call their GP or NHS 111 – or 999 if it falls to 92 per cent or less.

Dr Inada-Kim, who is also the National Clinical Lead for Deterioration at NHS England, said: “SCAS has produced ground-breaking research that has informed national policy and led to the evolution of the COVID home oximetry model and its staff are again leading the way with this new project to help identify patients at risk as early as possible.”