OXYGEN FIRM OFFERS REASSURANCE OVER SUPPLIES DURING CORONAVIRUS EMERGENCY

Important role in emergency - the BOC  plant at Stallingborough

SPECIALIST gas company BOC, which has an important plant at Stallingborough, says it is working closely with the Government to keep up-to-speed on supplies to its customers of oxygen and other medical-application gases.

As Prime Minister Boris Johnson will confirm, oxygen plays a vital role in helping patients in distress caused by breathing difficulties.

In a statement, BOC says: "We are taking the coronavirus situation very seriously, both in our responsibility to our own people and the need to maintain continuity of supply for our customers.

"Our continuity plan covers communications, containment activities, crisis management and maintenance of essential business activities.

"We remain confident that we will be able to maintain essential gas supplies within the UK.

"We have an extensive and robust infrastructure and have implemented a range of pre-emptive measures to ensure this continues."

Specifically on medical gases, the statement continues: "BOC is working closely with Government departments to develop processes and procedures to cope with an increased demand of medical gases associated with the Covid-19 outbreak. 

"This includes priority planning for the most critical hospitals and patients to ensure oxygen is available for patient treatment.

"In accordance with Department of Health guidance, wherever possible, piped / bulk oxygen supplies should be used for main patient care requiring oxygen during the Covid-19 outbreak. 

"In preparation for this, BOC has increased the amount of medical liquid oxygen stored within our customer’s on-site hospital vessels, this ensures that they are refilled more frequently and contain higher levels of oxygen than under normal circumstances."

Fortunately, BOC has a large medical gas fleet with multiple medical production branches throughout the UK. 

In preparation for an escalation of Covid-19 cases, BOC has, since March, been building stocks of medical gases, where available, to ensure its supply chain is in the best possible position to respond to customer requirements.

Note: BOC says it will not, under any circumstances, sell gases to members of the public who we suspect may intend to misuse the product, putting themselves and others at risk of harm. Medical oxygen is a licensed medical gas and as such can only be supplied to approved healthcare professionals for clinical use.