West Suffolk Hospital Appeals for Return of Medical Loan Equipment

16th January 2003

Many West Suffolk Hospital patients benefit from the loan of medical equipment which help them manage long-term medical conditions, or support them during recovery from operations or illness.

But when they no longer need the equipment many people fail to return the unused items to the hospital’s Medical Loans Library. The hospital’s Medical Loans Library has declared a “returns amnesty” appealing for patients or their relatives to contact the hospital about any equipment that is no longer needed.

The failure to return electric nebuliser systems, used by people with asthma and others with long-term respiratory conditions, has now reached crisis-point, says Respiratory Nurse Consultant Linda Pearce.

“We have more than a hundred nebuliser systems that should be available for loan to patients, but at present we don’t have a single unit in our medical loans library.

“We make it clear to patients that these kits are on loan and remain the property of West Suffolk Hospital and that they should be returned annually to check for electrical safety. Some of these systems are never seen again. We have even lost 12 units that were on loan to patients who have since died and presumably the systems were thrown out when their homes were cleared,” explains Linda Pearce.

The task of trying to keep track of medical loan equipment at the hospital falls to John Snow, manager of the Medical Loans Library.

“There are many types of equipment which we desperately need to have returned when it is no longer needed by individuals. For example, nine of the Graseby 16A Syringe Drivers used to deliver controlled levels of palliative care medication, are currently missing. These units alone represent some £7,000 worth of equipment, and 15 nebuliser compressors are also missing, ” said Mr Snow.

Patients are able to borrow all kinds of equipment from wheelchairs to crutches and walking sticks, in addition to the more specialised items such as the electric nebulisers and syringe drivers that are of particular concern at this time.

“Some of these items may have been returned by patients or their families to their local surgeries, while others may be retained ‘just in case’, but if anyone has any hospital equipment that is no longer needed, we’d urge them to get in touch with us,” added Mr Snow.

“It would cost an individual at least £100 to purchase a nebuliser, so it is vitally important that we retain a stock of machines for loan to those who need them and feel unable to purchase their own. Unfortunately some patients continue to hold on to nebulisers even though they no longer use them, which means we don’t have them available for loan to people who really need them. Nor do we have sufficient funds to keep replacing those that go missing,” added Linda Pearce.

All of the equipment loaned to patients by West Suffolk Hospital are marked with a small black and white label with a hospital serial number, such as WSHA 1234. Anyone having knowledge of unused medical loan equipment belonging to West Suffolk Hospital is urged to contact John Snow at the Medical Loans Library to arrange for its earliest possible return. John can be contacted on 01284 713222.