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Crutches

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  • 06-12-2009 8:22pm
    #1
    Ruthee
    Closed Accounts Posts: 162 ✭✭


    Not sure if this is the right place to ask, so mods feel free to move, but i have a question about crutches and what you are supposed to do with them after you are finished using them. Do you return them? (i got them from A&E, in the Galway Clinic). i always thought that they were not allowed to be used again for health and safety reasons, but someone said to me to make sure to return them or ill be billed for them later. there was no charge on the receipt i received for the consultation..

    any ideas?


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    #2
    blipp
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32 ✭blipp


    Speaking as a patient who got a set once, I got to keep them. I asked A&E when they gave them to me and they said not to return them. I assume its all part of the fee. It wasn't the Galway Clinic though.


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    #3
    chocgirl
    Closed Accounts Posts: 697 ✭✭✭chocgirl


    The official line is that they cannot be reused and recycling is too expensive. Having said that if you do bring them back they will more than likely take them and reuse them!


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    #4
    Ruthee
    Closed Accounts Posts: 162 ✭✭Ruthee


    cheers guys.. seems like such a waste for them not to be reused... i literally only used them for a day... ill ring them anyway and see what the story is..make sure i dont receive a bill a few months down the line for them..


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    #5
    drzhivago
    Registered Users Posts: 926 ✭✭✭drzhivago


    chocgirl wrote: »
    The official line is that they cannot be reused and recycling is too expensive. Having said that if you do bring them back they will more than likely take them and reuse them!

    Not quite folks
    when I started work many years ago hospitals used to ask fro deposits with crutches to make sure people brought them back and they were recycled

    Then a few years ago someone in cork had a fall while using crutches (which they had been given by hospital--recycled) and the stopper on the bottom was worn

    As a result they sued and got a fortune

    Overnight hospitals stopped recycling

    The problem was not with the concept but the execution, they werent actually recycling they were just handing them back out, no one was checking the stoppers

    Huge waste of money in my opinion

    we should go back to doing it


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    #6
    DrIndy
    Registered Users Posts: 3,461 ✭✭✭DrIndy


    This is another shocking inefficiency in the irish health service. Most people only justifiably need to use them for a short time and it is a sad waste if they cannot be returned and reused.


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    #7
    Ruthee
    Closed Accounts Posts: 162 ✭✭Ruthee


    well i rang the galway clinic and the lady at recepetion, while not certain, was pretty sure that i was going to be charged for them and i was to keep them.so i was put through to the A&E dept and they said that i was to keep them and there is no charge!!.. so that solves that..maybe its different for public hospitals, and you are charged there..

    it is such a waste.. i used them for a day... if anyone ever needs crutches let me know :D


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    #8
    chocgirl
    Closed Accounts Posts: 697 ✭✭✭chocgirl


    In the current economic climate I can vouch that crutches are definitely being re-used in several large public hospitals anyway! The ferrules are checked of course but after that nobody knows the difference;)


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    #9
    ergo
    Registered Users Posts: 765 ✭✭✭ergo


    chocgirl wrote: »
    In the current economic climate I can vouch that crutches are definitely being re-used in several large public hospitals anyway! The ferrules are checked of course but after that nobody knows the difference;)

    wow, got to be word of the day! I had to look it up anyway...couldn't help myself ... :rolleyes:

    fer·rule
    n.
    1. A metal ring or cap placed around a pole or shaft for reinforcement or to prevent splitting.
    2. A bushing used to secure a pipe joint.


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