Uptake of service specific codes for the COVID oximetry @Home Pulse Oximetry service: an analysis of 57 million patients’ primary care records using OpenSAFELY

Abstract Background NHS England guidance was issued in November 2020 for use of COVID Oximetry @home (informally named CO@h) to detect early deterioration of patients with COVID-19 in primary and community care settings. Methods With the approval of NHS England we conducted a retrospective cohort study between 4 th October 2020 and 10 th July 2021, using the primary care records for 57 million people registered at an English general practice. We identified patients with pulse oximetry coding (either specific CO@H codes or non-specific COPD005 codes) and described their characteristics. Results We identified 18,473 individuals with a CO@h code, and 1,581,665 with a non-specific COPD005 code related to pulse oximetry. Recording of CO@h codes varied according to patient demographics, region and practice software system (58.3 per 100,000 in TPP vs 13.2 in EMIS). Conclusion Our study shows that whilst CO@h codes were used in GP records, use of less specific COPD005 codes instead of new SNOMED CT codes for CO@h may have persisted.