Traveling can be stressful as well as wonderful. Falling ill while abroad is stressful and often not wonderful at all. Finally being discharged from hospital in another country can be both a huge relief – and a whole new level of worry! This is especially the case if you’ve been prescribed oxygen therapy to help you get back to tip-top health – how will you access oxygen in a foreign country with a brand-new prescription and no idea how the system works, what the rules and regulations are or even how to properly take care of your equipment as yet?
That’s where OxygenWorldwide comes in – we can help you navigate your new world using our decades of experience and our wide network of local suppliers. Let’s have a closer look at how you can access travel oxygen support after hospital stay so you can begin recovering abroad with oxygen therapy with no qualms or worries – and how OxygenWorldwide can help with the whole process.
Once you’ve left hospital, you are on your own when it comes to paying attention to how you feel, and also with getting to grips with your new treatment regime. If it’s not yet time to fly home, you might find yourself trying to manage your recovery in a hotel room, rental property or in a friend’s spare room, with no real idea of how to order oxygen.
- Where does it come from?
- Is it delivered like online shopping, or is there more to it than that?
- How heavy is oxygen?
- Can one just collect it from a dispensing pharmacy, like antibiotics? (The answer to the last one is always no, by the way!)
The good news is that OxygenWorldwide can help you source medical oxygen for recovery outside hospital, and we can effortlessly guide you through all the necessary steps, keeping you safe as you smoothly transition into a practiced medical oxygen user.
Why You Might Need Oxygen After Leaving Hospital Abroad
There are several conditions which require long-term oxygen use, but there are also several short-term illnesses which are greatly improved by the use of medical oxygen. These include respiratory ailments like pneumonia, Covid-19, cardiac events (if your heart is not working effectively, you can end up short of breath) and other surgeries. While you would not be released from hospital while you are still ill enough to need active treatment, there is usually a short period of recovery time when you will still need oxygen after hospital discharge abroad before you feel well enough to do without it.
While hospitals do sometimes supply equipment that you need to use your supplemental oxygen while in your holiday accommodation, they don’t always do so feeling, perhaps, that if you are stable enough for hospital release, you will be able to source your own equipment. Alternatively, you might be well enough to be released from hospital, but still be too unwell to travel immediately. Either way, in all these scenarios, you are in a foreign country, reliant upon supplemental oxygen and not quite feeling yourself.
Common Scenarios OxygenWorldwide Supports
Depending on the country (we have excellent links with some countries, good connections in a great number of others, and there are a few for which we would only be able to offer telephone support and advice. The following is a list of eventualities that we could help you with:
- Recovery period in a holiday home or a second residence if you are lucky enough to own one of these
- Discharge from hospital to a hotel or short-term rental (Airbnb, a serviced apartment, that sort of accommodation) while waiting for your previously booked flight to come along
- Prepping you for oxygen-assisted travel home – repatriation while using supplemental oxygen is perfectly possible, but it does come with new rules and regulations and extra steps such as arranging for flight-compliant equipment and understanding the rules of traveling with medical oxygen
- Organising transit between countries, if necessary, with oxygen arranged for you at each destination to ensure that you are in good shape for the next leg of your voyage
- We can even help you make arrangements for family members who are traveling with you and need coordinated support too
What Can OxygenWorldwide Arrange?
We can help you to source your oxygen in the format of your choice: concentrators, cylinders or LOX tanks – which can be delivered to wherever you are staying, no matter if it is a private home, a short-term let, or a hotel room. We can tailor your oxygen order for as long as you need it, no matter whether it is for one night or for an extended stay as you recover. We are well-versed with the bureaucratic needs of oxygen supply, both in your home country with your local medical provider or your insurers and in your destination country, where you are currently recovering as best you can and can take care of all the paperwork.
Many of our employees are multilingual, so you will almost always be able to express yourself clearly, with no fears of mistranslations interfering with your plans – and they can pass on your requirements to our local supplier in their own language in turn, with the same peace of mind. Finally, we can offer backup and emergency support should anything go astray during the above processes and your recovery – for example, being asked to move accommodations because your booking is up and the room is needed – or if any issues arise that must be resolved quickly.
There is a 24-7 telephone number that you will be given when you sign up: our operators can quickly assess your problem and brainstorm solutions, swinging into action to have you back on track as soon as possible.
In short: We bridge the gap between hospital and home—whether home is here or still miles away.
What You Need to Get Started
- The hospital can provide you with a medical summary of your condition, including a discharge report, and you should make a point of having this before you leave as it is essential for accessing your much-needed oxygen
- Your prescription, too, will be vital, and it should state how much oxygen you need (your flow rate), the equipment you’ll be using, and how long you will need the oxygen for
- You will have to provide an address – somewhere you’ll be staying as you recuperate and become well enough to travel
- A contact number for your supporters if you are not managing your own care, along with your authority for that supporter/ those supporters to deal with suppliers and medical personnel on your behalf
- Travel dates if you know when you will be repatriating and especially if this will be soon
Do You Still Need Travel Insurance or an EHIC/GHIC?
Your EHIC/ GHIC may entitle you to some necessary oxygen therapy during your recovery process, but this is not guaranteed, and most private insurers will insist upon documentation before they agree to cover medical oxygen in your accommodation. OxygenWorldwide can help you prepare the right paperwork so you can claim for reimbursement or arrange ongoing care for the future.
Recovery abroad doesn’t mean that you have to do it all yourself – in fact, trying to arrange these sorts of things alone is probably a good way to stress yourself out and possibly cause a relapse! You may have left the hospital with its hands-on care and attentive nurses, but you are also not entirely on your own.
With OxygenWorldwide, you can be sure that the oxygen support you need to recover safely and with dignity is all arranged for you, and will arrive on time, in the quantities promised so you can devote all your time and attention to getting better, so you can get yourself back home and into familiar surroundings. Let us know your discharge plans as soon you know them yourself, and we’ll take care of the oxygen you need – wherever you are in the world.
