Waste In The Nhs

[Kazal]

My son in law had a catheter for 4-5 months, he then had nephrostomies for 3 months and finally a stoma for 1 month before passing away. My daughter was left with boxfuls of catheter bags, nephrostomy bags and tubes and stoma bags. She approached the hospital and pharmacy with these bags but was told they could not be returned, despite the majority being in sealed bags, and she would have to dump them. The same is said about tablets etc even if they are in sealed boxes. What a complete waste of money

[Mamyalynne]

It is distressing, I had a fair amount of sealed and boxed stoma supplies when my Husband died, I contacted the third party company that used to deliver them and they took them away as they redistribute them to charities.

[naomi24]

I'm so sorry for the loss of your son in law. Awful, just awful.

We've been in similar situations several times - and I've always thought the same.

[Cloverjo]

I know. My dad still has packets of my mum's morphine that couldn't be returned. We still have a walking frame and crutches that no one wants back.

[hereIam]

If they are still sealed why on earth can't they use them ??

[EcclesCake]

All the while I think Govt depts should be cautious with money I half heartedly agree with the stance of the NHS.

There is no simple way of knowing that medicines and medical appliances have not been tampered with. The cost of disposal probably outweighs the cost of litigation.

[pixie374]

Infection control- in theory. We were given 18 packs of pull- up pads by someone who lost her husband. The packs are £14.99 each. We distributed them around our people as Social Services would have destroyed them.

[Cloverjo]

We took my mum's pull-up pads to the hospice. They were very grateful for them.

[-SharonA-]

When my Mum was in hospital we had loads of stuff including pants, medication and special items that they had bought specially for her. They did not want any of it back. Also mealtimes on the ward, the amount of food wasted on patients who were semi comatose and could not have ordered food let alone eat.

[Jahulaye]

Try and get in touch with charities that deal with overseas, waeytorn countries etc.. as people are screaming for supplies

[woofgang]

Its not "only" infection control. Anything that has been in private hands is officially considered unsafe to be used on another patient because of the risk that it will have been misused or even tampered with. They can be passed to charities both in the UK and to be sent abroad, occasionally community care teams will accept them to top up their emergency supplies. Drugs can be returned to pharmacies for disposal. The pharmacy you got them from will accept them back. I believe that some pharmacies won't accept the most tightly controlled drugs if they haven't got appropriate secure storage.