Who wants disability aids?

janep The items I no longer need are in my garden shed because I am sure I will need them in a few years and by then hospitals will have come to their senses and we will have to pay.

Maybe a local retirement home?

Check with the local hospital. Some areas, such as here in Bucks, do take them back. I believe it depends on whether there are cleaning services available,

Give the British Red Cross a call, they might take some items, althouh I’m with Charleygirl, keep them just in case.

I think it’s an appalling waste of resources, the nhs pay fir them ie we pay for them, and then don’t want them back. We have a large sealed box of new incontinence pads, costing in the region of £80 no longer needed but on asking at the surgery this morning I was told that they ‘belonged to us’ and it was a sackable offence if any nhs staff accept them back. I was told I could dump them if I want, but am still trying to find someone other than a private home, to accept them. A terrible waste. If all else fails it will have to be a private home.

Silverline, as they are still completely sealed, would a charity shop take them? We have had, in the past Tena pads, and the like, and they sold.

We got DH’s things from a company called Millbrook who were very prompt when I asked them to remove them.

I have two sets of crutches which the hospital will not accept back. I also have two cellular blankets which were put round me to get from A&E to the car in the snow (I was in night attire) and I was told to keep them!!!! It seems they do not launder them!!!!

I have been in touch again with our local hospice who are supposed to get back to me. If i dont hear from them then i will take to the cancer charity shop for resale, at least that means the money wont go to Bupa but i still think that completely sealed inco pads can and should be used by the nhs.
On the subject of crutches luckygirl i was given a pair of crutches in a german hospital last year. . I said i really didn't need them as we were going straight to the airport but they insisted. A week later i got billed for 40euros! I phoned the number on the back of the e111 and after completing a form received a refund about 6 months later.

I will save the crutches for when i have a knee replacement. They are black and shiny, rather natty actually.

silverlining48 if you are having a knee replacement you will find it easier to have one pair downstairs and one pair upstairs- unless you live in a ground floor flat or a bungalow!

1. Do think about keeping some of them, if you have room. When I had my hip replacement, I blessed my mother's wonderful crutches. And I love the 'grabber'.
The raised loo seat regularly goes around our village (and comes back with a bottle of wine!)
2, But if you can't keep them, put them on Freecycle / Freegle. Someone will want them, and charities keep an eye on the posts.

Thanks. I think we will freecycle them. Hopefully we are a few years off needing them at the moment!

Why not Freegle the equipment - and the incontinence aids? I am sure there will be someone who will snap them up.

The Red Cross rental system is fantastic. When my aunt was discharged from hospital, just dumped at home, unable to even rise from a chair and with no equipment to help her, I just rang DH sent him down to the local Red Cross and he arrived at my aunt's home an hour later with two walking frames, for upstairs and downstairs, elephant legs to raise her chair, so she could get up and a frame for the loo. All collected from the Red Cross, with no notice at all.

If you’re on Facebook there may be a local selling group. Just search for your local town + selling and see what comes up. You can advertise free and buyer collects. As it’s strictly local it’s friendly and easy.

I've still got disability aids from two years ago when I had knee replacement. No one seems to want them, so I've decided to keep them as I am no spring chicken and think they might come in useful fairly soon!

I work in a charity shop and we sell inco pads if they are still sealed we also sell all sorts of mobility aids in fact most that comes our way if they are in good clean condition

I once rented a wheelchair for a few days from the Red Cross.

If the items you have are suitable for such a purpose, you could perhaps ask the Red Cross.

I just switched on the radio (4) and there was an MP talking about the money wasted by the NHS and SS not taking equipment back.

Our local care home takes lifting chairs and such like. The only thing really hard to re-cycle seems to be raised loo seats. (Some things are worth putting in the loft for future use!)

Yes I heard the same radio item nfk. Have they been reading our posts? They have decided it’s a terrible waste and hospitals should not refuse to take items back. Will it filter through ?
Won’t hold my breath.

I had a lot of aids when I had a hip replacement and we advertised them on eBay (free, come and collect) , and on the local area page of Facebook. Have you tried just putting them outside your house? Everything goes when we do that

I think the point is that crutches,walkers, sticks, chairs etc etc cost the nhs a good deal and should be returned and accepted by hospitals and after a clean, used again by the nhs and not just given away. Such a massive waste.

It was one of the subjects on breakfast this morning. Mid Essex Hospital Trust is launching a new initiative to encourage patients to return crutches and walkers. Not sure about anything else, those were the only things mentioned.

Our hospital (Norfolk and Norwich) does take back crutches (but I had my own and kept them), chairs, walkers, loo seat supports and such like. Even delivers them and collects them realising many people aren’t able to transport them and it still saves money. They don’t take loo seats back though, which is understandable. I gather nowhere else does this.

It was on the news today that the NHS are having an "amnesty" to encourage people to return equipment!
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/12/nhs-launch-national-crutch-amnesty-amid-concern-equipment-going/