I’m going to tag this as a little tutorial for @MichaelYeadon3 who keeps saying that there’s no problem from the suppliers of medical ‘gasses’

Most hospitals in the U.K. run their O2 supply from a Vacuum Insulated Evaporator (VIE)

https://t.co/Lu9ktGFSSm

1/n

This VIE is essentially a large thermos flask/ vacuum insulated cylinder at -180C
O2 is supplied from (typically) BOC in liquid form; when required, allowed to evaporate into gas, & supplied to hospital outlets.

Most hospitals have a VIE big enough to meet their needs

2/n

The problem is the pipes

Most ~12 bed ICUs have pipes that allow ~400L/min flow

This is Ok because most ventilators don’t use >20l/min; giving useful buffer capacity

Modern non invasive ventilation systems- CPAP, NIV, and High flow nasal Oxygen (HFNO), however, need more
3/n

A typical patient on HFNO will have 60-80Lmin flow. If they’re on 90% O2, that’s 60L O2 for 1 patient

6 of these patients will come very close to triggering the O2 flow alarm for this 12 bed unit.

4/n

Aside from breaking walls and re engineering the O2 supply for the whole hospital there’s no easy way of solving this problem
5/n