Bring Back our Crutches – Cromer Hospital's Amnesty Plea

Staff at Cromer & District Hospital's Minor Injuries Unit are appealing to the public to return crutches they have been loaned by the NHS after receiving treatment.

Every month the Cromer MIU losses 12 pairs of crutches as patients fail to return them after they have recovered from their injuries. The loss of the crutches is a drain on NHS resources and is part of a wider trend of NHS equipment being loaned but never returned. Over the course of a year up to 144 pairs of crutches go missing from the MIU, at a cost of around £1,700 a year.

Emergency nurse practitioner Andrea Fiske said: “It might seem a trivial thing but we are losing large numbers of crutches and it is a waste of taxpayers money to have to constantly replace them. We do ring patients to remind them to return the items but not even that works. We would be very grateful if people who have crutches and no longer need them could please return them as soon as possible. ”

Earlier this month, staff at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for premature babies called on parents to return up to £16,000 worth of baby breathing alarms that have not been returned.

Up to 40 apnoea alarms have been loaned and not returned to the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The alarms are given to families who have had premature babies or have had a history of cot death in the family and will sound an alarm if the baby stops breathing.

• Anyone wanting to return crutches, or any other item of NHS equipment to Cromer Hospital, please call 01263 513571.

Media contacts: Andrew Stronach or Hayley Gerrard on 01603 287200