The NHS doesn't want its property returned.

POPPYOSCAR

LadyDee wrote: »

My local hospital does. Thanked me profusely for taking the trouble to return them rather than putting them in a skip "like some people do".

This is the thing.

Each Trust seems to have its own policy.

My husband was given a brand new pair which he used inside for about two weeks so they still looked like new.

He tried to return them but was told they do not take them back.

When he said it was such a waste they told him to take them to a recycling centre.

Nilrem

LadyDee wrote: »

My local hospital does. Thanked me profusely for taking the trouble to return them rather than putting them in a skip "like some people do".

I suspect it'll depend on the trust and how they deal with them.

A friend used to have to use crutches all the time and the trust never wanted them back, although they were also incredibly hard to get new ones out of even for long term patients with conditions that wouldn't improve (he used to have to get a referral to the physio each time so by the time he got a new pair he'd have been stuck with a pair that was dodgy for weeks or months*), he ended up just buying them himself when needed.

There is always a cost associated with returning equipment, and I suspect depending on how much the equipment typically costs the trust vs the cost of having a "returns" department and the age of it it almost certainly works out cheaper at times to write it off than accept it back and then inspect it thoroughly and either clean it up/refurb it for reissue or pay for disposal.

Cheap aluminium crutches can be had for something like £20-30 a pair retail, so once you've allowed for the cost of accepting them back the saving isn't going to be great.


*Crutches have a bunch of rivets and things that wear out over time (resulting in them needing to be scrapped), which is one of the reasons any that a trust accepted back would need to be inspected (not to mention the ferule wears and needs to be replaced on a regular basis)

Red-Squirrel_2

If you want to donate your old crutches or other used medical equipment, there are a number of charities that will take them, they will usually go to countries in the developing world.

hightara

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

If you want to donate your old crutches or other used medical equipment, there are a number of charities that will take them, they will usually go to countries in the developing world.

I cannot find any charities in Northern Ireland, if someone has a link?

Red-Squirrel_2

hightara wrote: »

I cannot find any charities in Northern Ireland, if someone has a link?

This one says they arrange pick ups throughout the UK: http://limbcare.org/recycling-limbcare.html

I'm sure its possible.

hightara

Red-Squirrel thank you

teddysmum

Bonbon wrote: »

Wow DUTR I was only asking a question,
firefox1956. I just presumed that if our laundry isn't hygienic enough the hospitals would 're wash them. I'm sure they don't throw them away after every patient .. We have been givIing some away but it does seem such a waste of NHS funds

One would think that they were capable of rewashing to assure standards are achieved,as they don't throw away bedding, which can be soiled in many ways and certainly gowns are not thrown away as some used for short treatments,such as scans, are so worn that the once substantial pair of ties,is reduced to p strings (that is if both ties are still in place).

teddysmum

Nick_C wrote: »

This is just one example of the wastage and inefficiency that exists within the NHS. We shouldn't just chuck more money at the NHS. They should be tackling these issues. We seem to need knowledgable outsiders to highlight them.

A nurse, whom my husband knows, works in theatre and told him that one surgeon irretrievably bins surgical instruments (expensive specialist ones, not just scalpels) and regular replacements are just bought in, with nothing said.

teddysmum

Andy_L wrote: »

A lot of hospitals have their laundry done off site by contract cleaners. Some don't even own their own linnin but have it all provided under the same contract

But all wards will have a dirty laundry bins from which actually stained/infected items are sorted.


Another point is that contracts mean that the NHS pays far more than necessary for a number of things, for instance common drugs like aspirin or paracetamol, available for pence in supermarkets or the gluten free items that they pay several pounds for when the patient getting them on prescription could buy for about £1 from ordinary shops.

photome

daveyjp wrote: »

Its their policy because in the grand scheme of costs these items are dirt cheap.

Every hospital would need somewhere to receive these items, check them, launder them, get them back to the stores, and reissue. This would cost far more than having fresh ones from the supplier.

dont they have to do all of that with the ones they use in the hospital.