How can I get rid of the Zimmer frame, toilet surround and other paraphernalia

servicesguide.reading.gov.uk/kb5/reading/directory/advice.page?id=pFh0liavn6g

they have to purchase more anyway.
they don't reuse them, just dump/scrap/
so there is no incentive to collect or make it easy for you to return these items.
i was annoyed when an OT decided a friend needed a different type of riser/recliner. she insisted on the original one being collected. the driver said they are just thrown on a scrap heap.
she then decided the patient did not need the new one, so cancelled the order.
just seems mean and wasteful. they cost £1K.
patient is often returned wrapped in hosp/ambulance blankets. they don't want those back either.

Try your nearest Age UK. Our local organisation took my neighbours stuff went he went into a care home.

@PermanentTemporary occupational health is where staff go for pre employment medicals, they would not be able to help. The occupational therapy department or in patient therapies at your local hospital will be able to advise or ask the local social services occupational therapists, there's usually a website with telephone numbers and/or email address to ask questions on local council websites. Every area is different so general advice may not be helpful. Many years ago everything was delivered, collected when no longer required, steam cleaned and reused but the government decided it was cheaper to just issue smaller equipment as single use🤷

I've seen old articles online saying that RBH do want this equipment returned, or the walking aids at least, but maybe Covid changed that. I'd try to speak to the occupational health department.

You can't just give a fracture clinic a piece of equipment that hasn't been cleaned and tested.

Put them on EBay as pick up only for 99p. Someone will want them.
Or put on Freegle.
Have been there. Absurd waste. But at least either of these methods will get them reused.

Blimey - we’ve got a big box for crutches at the hospital entrance so that people can just pop them in there whenever they’ve finished with them. Zimmer frames too. They all get cleaned, checked and parts replaced as needed and then reused.

Agree! I took mine back to the hospital and they told me they don't take back 'used' crutches.

What an absolute joke. Nothing wrong with them.

They're still in my loft.

Good luck they never seem to want equipment back. 13 years as a carer and it has never been harder to get anyone to take responsibility for no longer needed equipment. Covid then gave them an even bigger excuse not to collect. God knows how many millions are wasted on new equipment when perfectly serviceable equipment is left rotting in peoples gardens or in landfill

In my area its the councils equipment services. Can you look on the council website? Did any paperwork come with them?
Could also try contacting gp reception/District nurses they may have a contact number.

Ring the council social services department and someone will come and collect it.

When I no longer needed my crutches after an op I couldn’t get anyone to take them. It’s a shocking waste of money.
I ended up giving them away for free on Facebook. No wonder the NHS has no money! It’s crazy!

If she got it when she was discharged then the Occupational Therapy department at the hospital will know.

All the equipment here is sent out by NRS too.

We had this after I had been in an accident and I had been supplied with mobility aids. The NHS made it very difficult to return the equipment, very limited hours at a specific place to do so and I still couldn’t drive. Not open at any times my DH could take them back, he couldn’t take a day off as he had used holidays caring for me and chauffeuring to appointments. Not allowed to drop off at the hospital which would have been easy due to appointments. In the end a friend made a special journey but it was weeks after I had finished with them. All I could think of was that this was being replicated all over and that some people just wouldn’t return stuff as it was so difficult and that the NHS would then have to purchase more at cost to the taxpayer.

Rosscare in Wirral/Cheshire. Try them, they may point you in right direction for your area.

If you call your local council's Social Care Occupational Therapy Department they may be able to tell you if the equipment was loaned from their contractor and may be able to arrange collection for you.

ours is delivered by and collected by millbrook

see if they are operating in your local area, or return to hospital? At least if you take back to hospital they will have to do something with it

I had a similar thing after surgery a few years ago. I did actually have a number to call of a place the other side of the county. They wouldn't collect though - they wanted me to drop the things off there, but I still couldn't drive post-surgery. It was a real pain but in the end a friend took it all for me.

Zimmer frame at least you could just pop it into the local fracture clinic. The other stuff is a bit harder - was it an occupational therapist you spoke to or just the ward? Because OT should be able to tell you.

Our local Red Cross hires out equipment- may like a donation?

?

The equipment will probably have come from either Social Care (usually a local council service or Community based OT or District Nursing Services, not directly from the hospital. Some might even have been loaned from a local branch of the British Red Cross. Often this equipment cannot be cleansed or ‘reconditioned’ locally and therefore cannot be reused for other people, because of the possibility of it malfunctioning and causing injury.

District nurse / health visitor might be able to point you in the right direction.