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

[MrsSchadenfreude]

That the hospital sent home with my DM when she was briefly discharged? The hospital don’t want to know - they said it will have come from an agency, and there will be a label on it. The only label is a bar code - no name of any agency. It seems crazy that we have all of this stuff and no-one seems to care.

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.

@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🤷

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

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.

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

Lots of really bad advice on this thread.

If she received the equipment following a stay in hospital it is highly likely she was prescribed the equipment by the Occupational Therapist on the ward. Anything mobility related (i.e. walking frame or walking stick) will have been prescribed by the Physio.

Equipment will come from Occupational Therapy Social Care (i.e. the Council) if she is living at home and struggling. GPs often refer patients for OT this way. It's to try to keep people safe and independent at home and out of hospital.

Equipment that does go back here absolutely gets clinically cleaned and recycled so that someone else can use it. That applies to riser recliners which cost in the region of £1k. Historically, they haven't been bothered about walking sticks going back but that seems to be changing. For each item of equipment that goes back, the NHS receives a refund of 50%.

NRS are the equipment supplier for Berkshire. Give them a ring and they will arrange collection.

servicesguide.reading.gov.uk/kb5/reading/directory/service.page?id=Fxwo6OkL6ZA

www.nrshealthcare.com/ices/recycling-reuse

Oh, and lots of supply issues with equipment at the moment which is going to get worryingly much worse.

If you know of any equipment lurking in garages and sheds please try and send it back.

Occupational therapy delivered ours and also collected it (same hospital)

My grandad's stuff was collected by St John's ambulance (is that what they're called?!) - the people who volunteer at football matches etc.

With us it was Millbrook for the bed, hoist etc. Contacted them and between us we arranged a collection date/time.
For the rest of the items that we bought personally it was just down to eBay & FB.

Look up home equipment loans for your local nhs trust. They should collect, sanitise and reuse

@OnTheBrinkOfChange it’s not for them to give to patients straight away - it’s a collection area so that the equipment can be cleaned, mended as needed and reused. It would be incredibly wasteful to throw it away - certainly in the hospitals I’ve worked with there has been a facility to do that. We won’t take back walking boots though as they are single use but will dispose of them for patients.

@MrsSchadenfreude
This is the return contact for equipment from that hospital

servicesguide.reading.gov.uk/kb5/reading/directory/service.page?id=Fxwo6OkL6ZA

Do NOT dump it on the GP surgery!!! What an awful thought to have. I know you are feeling frustrated but this equipment is nothing to do with the GP surgery. It was organised by the hospital, not the GPs.

It's a bit of a tragic indictment of our throwaway society but I have heard collecting, cleaning , assessing if equipment is safe costs way ( employing the staff to do this is the main expense)more than just buying new equipment . I took my mums stuff after she died to a charity shop.

Equipment tends to come from several different sources such as Occupational Therapy in hospital, Occupational Therapy in the community, District Nurses and the Wheelchair Service. Most things are delivered by a private outsourced company which will be different in different areas.
A lot of equipment cannot be reused due to health and safety issues. You know it was just used for a short time by your frail relative but other people may weigh 20 stone and weaken the frame. If this is reissued and a patient has an accident, it would be a big issue.

Brilliant, thank you for the link. I’ll try and arrange for it to be collected when we are back for the funeral. Why couldn’t anyone in the hospital have directed me to this place?

My mums things come from Medequip

www.medequip-uk.com/contact/

No, it doesn't.

If the NHS or Council prescribe the equipment here they receive a 50% refund if it's returned for recycling.

Equipment is issued to people at home to keep them safe and independent. It's a cost effective way of keeping people out of hospital which costs £££.

Always try to return the equipment to where it came from. Don't sell it, eBay it or give it to the charity shop. It really needs to go back into the system and prescribed for purpose. I see lots of people using equipment that is either not fit for purpose or not set to the correct height because a family member 'saw it at the charity shop'. I said it upthread but there are also serious supply issues at the moment.

I think some staff do but it gets lost in all the other stuff patients get told. There should really be something on the label with the barcode. If you look a bit closer there should be a telephone number with an 0300 code for returns.

Bit rubbish really maybe mention it when you make a call to request them to collect it.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Wierdly our local fire brigade accepts returned crutches etc.

I'd be keeping them. You never know when you or a family member may need them and they easily store in a corner.

When my knee gave way at the start of this year, I couldn't walk but we had a pair of crutches another family member couldn't return so I was able to maintain some mobility.

Try your local Red cross as a starter point for info. My uncle lives in Reading & they oversaw his home care, post hospital discharge. Failing that try fb/ND or the local scrap metal dealers on fb/ND.

My equipment went back to a private firm which supplied it under a contract with the hospital, I had to call the hospital to get the number then phone them. They collected it from the doorstep for re-use.
Still have some small items.

I wonder how much it costs the financially struggling NHS and Social Care each year in lost equipment because they make it so damned difficult for people to return it to them?

I remember when DM died having the same problem trying to get stuff back to them. None of us lived in the area and they weren't open at weekends when we could get there. The Council wanted to continue to charge us for the alarm monitoring equipment up until we returned it (even though it wasn't being used) but couldn't give us a reasonable way of returning it. The drop off point for the perching stool, zimmer, toilet frame etc was 15 miles further away from DM's house than our journey (so an extra 30 mile round trip on top of the 150 mile round trip we already had). And their opening hours were limited even in the week. In the end DB had to take an afternoon off work to drive around taking everything back. We had to clear in out of the house so the house could be sold.

But it must cost £££££ every year in replacing equipment they don't get back because people can't/don't know how to return it.