The things you notice

[Melvyn Best]

Mate of mine ran an independent hydraulics company in Cambridge, he was called out to Addenbrooks hospital as one of their hydraulic platforms wasn’t working , he checked it out and told the hospital staff he could fix it but it would probably take a couple of days only to be told not to bother, they would get a new one. He removed the failed platform for them which he then repaired and used himself . I hate to think how much a new platform cost

 

[BrokenBiker]

Buy! I thought we made things in here.

We do...unless it's 12 quid and free postage

 

[bricol]

Calderdale and Bradford do have sticker son their gear asking you to return it. Problem comes when every time your mum got discharged from hospital, they gave her another zimmer/bad frame/commode, to go with the one you'd already bought for her a year before.

Calderdale do have a returns depot - I was a bit bemused not to be have sign for/be signed in anything I took back. And you can't actually fit many zimmer frames in a non-hatchback.

And then your other half falls in Leeds and gets discharged, with a still broken leg to me (Bradford area) - and at some point they delivered her zimmer frames, commode and a (broken) raised toilet seat. I was running out of room for storage!

Persuaded her to insist on the patient transport service who turned for her for appointments to take a zimmer or a commode away each time (I might have removed the other authorities stickers).

Couldn't give them away to the care home my mum is in - they already had enough for all their residents with many spares.

 

[jmp49]

Spend quite a bit of time in there this year, really like the stools the nurses used, reminds me of a horses saddle. Something like this but more expensive View attachment 480277

I use a saddle stool full time in the office, but I can never get on with one at the welding bench just fyi.
It requires you to pay attention as your settling down, or if its got twisted round a bit, the beak can go somewhere awkward. When your masked up its a lot to remember to check the chair rotation as your trying to focus on the torch etc if you stand up slightly to reach round the back during a weld. Flat button stool at the welding bench for me.

 

[Turbo]

Local recycling centres have a bin for crutches and walking aids. They get sent to 3rd world countries.

 

[brightspark]

Local recycling centres have a bin for crutches and walking aids. They get sent to 3rd world countries.

so they dont travel far

 

[BrokenBiker]

so they dont travel far

im sure they use an economical boat to get them there though

 

[Matchless]

when my grandfather was near the end he was on oxygen, after he passed we tried to return the oxygen bottle, the walking frame, 2 walking sticks, a boot and a whole sealed box of unused oxy masks...the only thing they were interested in was the bottle, told us to throw the rest.

same when my grandmother passed almost a year ago, she was in a private care home, she had a wheelchair off the nhs and we tried to return that to no avail...shame we got rid of it as now my mother in law has just had to buy one

I take all this equipment (wheelchairs, crutches etc.) in from people in my village, then I lend it out free of charge, to people in the village! as part of the repair cafe I run, all sponsored by our Parish Council, of witch I am a member....

 

[BrokenBiker]

I take all this equipment (wheelchairs, crutches etc.) in from people in my village, then I lend it out free of charge, to people in the village! as part of the repair cafe I run, all sponsored by our Parish Council, of witch I am a member....

now thats a brilliant idea

 

[nickk]

Good idea i think , i am into repurposed tools and kit myself, i have a draw full of dentist tooth picks made from the best steels, cant be replaced for removing hard to reach O rings etc

Pre nuclear? Isn’t that why some old shipwrecks get salvaged?

 

[bourbon]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/16696784...7jtzuvrrdk&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

so turns out they aren't that difficult to buy...

I'll bet the NHS pay WAY more than that for them

 

[DAPPH]

Calderdale and Bradford do have sticker son their gear asking you to return it. Problem comes when every time your mum got discharged from hospital, they gave her another zimmer/bad frame/commode, to go with the one you'd already bought for her a year before.

Calderdale do have a returns depot - I was a bit bemused not to be have sign for/be signed in anything I took back. And you can't actually fit many zimmer frames in a non-hatchback.

And then your other half falls in Leeds and gets discharged, with a still broken leg to me (Bradford area) - and at some point they delivered her zimmer frames, commode and a (broken) raised toilet seat. I was running out of room for storage!

Persuaded her to insist on the patient transport service who turned for her for appointments to take a zimmer or a commode away each time (I might have removed the other authorities stickers).

Couldn't give them away to the care home my mum is in - they already had enough for all their residents with many spares.

Swansea City recycling shop at their recycling center usually has a half dozen or more of various sizes of crutches ,frames & toileting aids . They gave me two sturdy Zimmer's of the same size saying , "We just can't get rid of them quick enough " . They made la pair of lovely sturdy saw horses , when slightly adapted for a platform

 

[TEO]

I'd suspect that by the time they've cleaned it, inspected it, made sure its safe, sterilised it, bought it back into stock and stored it, it's actually cheaper to just buy new for a lot of low value items.

Crazily wasteful, but that's the way of the modern world.

Does sound like a crazy waste but I'm pleased to say that it's not that way everywhere.
Over the past year my parents in Oxfordshire have needed walking frames, sticks, countless different chairs, a hospital bed, special inflatable mattresses & that's probably only the half of it - basically the place became a cottage hospital and everything delivered with very little delay by a friendly & considerate NHS service with some pretty frantic times over Christmas....... Over Christmas!! They delivered stuff as needed.
We reached the inevitable conclusion , I called the service told them that we no longer needed anything, they apologised for not coming out that day (NY's day) and we made an appointment for a few days hence.....
Same guys turned up, worked through a list they had of everything we'd been supplied with and removed it all...... Bloody brilliant

Same can be said for all the NHS & palliative carers who were with us pretty much 24/7 for the weeks up to & over Christmas bloody brilliant.
I realise that many people have very different experiences with the NHS but I just wanted to add our experience to give another side of the story.
The NHS is not all bad, it can be amazing