Can I ask a few Qs about Tens hire?

[AtYourCervix]

How much would you pay to hire a Tens?

Would you rather buy your own?

If you hired it would you remember to give it back? or would you steal forget it?

I hired mine from Boots. You have to pay a hefty deposit (all in all I think I paid about £50 and got about 30 back iirc) so if you do steal it then you've still paid for it I suppose. I liked the idea of hiring one as I was indiced with my first birth and was able to use the hospital ones, but they were in pretty shoddy repair and kept breaking. As it turns out, my second labour was too fast for me to use it. I will think about hiring one again this time. I really don't think people would steal them, the deposit and the fact it's not new would surely put them off? I think you can buy them cheaper than that but tbh it's something you'll use for a few hours of your life, if you can hire it, I think you should.
You moonlighting as a salesman then?

the NHS is virtually bankrupt so needing to raise cash for essentials.

and thinking maybe also a good addition to things we offer.

and anything not security tagged get stolen, TV remotes, stethoscopes, lamps - the mind boggles....

So you'd make people pay to use them rather than just offering them? Hmm, not sure in that case. I think if you offer them for hire before birth then yep, great idea. But if it comes at the cost of people who need them not having them, then no sorry, not keen.

The thing is I suppose, people expect things on the NHS to be free. I think it would be a great way to raise money, but I htink people would be funny about it. If you can set yourself up as a seperate business, maybe with leaflets for the community midwife to distribute in those bloody Bounty packs then it woudl be a great venture. But if people realise it's the NHS hiring out their own pain relief I do think there would be some resistanc if that makes sense? Which is a real shame really.

I dunno, fuckity. My NHS trust hires them out at a tenner a go to women about to go into labour, and nobody seems to mind paying. They've usually got all of them out, too, so there is a decent level of uptake.

They aren't provided where I work. Can see your point though. Although plenty of women use their own.

Vague plan would be for women to hire them before, then return them after.

Might be a huge hassle to keep track and get them back though, which would be a pain in the arse. Timewise would be a problem too as god knows there isn't enough time during a normal day to add anything extra in.

Or maybe I could just do it myself on the side and make a percentage donation to work.

Ah at a tenner a go I'd have no problem. But yes, at that level theft would be an issue I guess. ALthough, presumably one of your team would be able to just take it after the birth? Then the mother doesn't even have to remember to return it. You could have a simple tick box in the notes to indicate the tens belonged to the hospital?

We used to provide them free of charge where I work. They were soon all pinched. They were replaced and pinched again. Probably 20+ over the last few years. We no longer provide them.

deposit on cheque returned if Tens is returned?

We don't even have any sonicaids left anymore. Haven't had any for years.

Yes. But I think you ned to have somehting in place so it's not restricted to people who can afford it iyswim. When I was pg with dc2 my partner buggered off and finding that £50, even knowing I'd get £30 of it back was difficult really. As a private venture obviously it's a mothers choice to take up or not. But if you're offered it by your midwife, in an NHS hospital, and you can't afford it, it makes me feel a bit funny tbh. In which case I do think the private venture with some profits to the NHS is the better option.

sigh. yes fuckity. very good point. back to the drawing board.

Could you fundraise for it? We raised money for a birthing pool and raised over 30k. TENS machines should be a bit cheaper.

Then you could always ask for voluntary donations to assist purchasing replacements, new pads, etc.

If anyone was thinking about buying one there's a Femme Tens on Amazon that's about half price at the mo, £33.99. Seemed to get pretty good reviews and was no more expensive than the few hire places I looked at. I figured I'd probably use it again some day so buying might work better for me :)

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000A1QKG2