Urgent appeal for Portsmouth residents to return 2,000 items of unused community medical equipment that is needed for others

NRS Healthcare, which loans items including walking sticks, crutches, commodes and shower chairs to residents through Portsmouth City Council and the NHS, is asking people to check their own or family members’ homes for equipment that is no longer needed.

It said it knows of 2,000 items that could be returned currently and re-distributed.

Mike Cutler, service centre manager at NRS Healthcare, said: ‘There is an urgent need for medical equipment within the community and we are asking those who no longer need it to please return it.

‘This is vital and helps people live the best independent life that they can.’

NRS provides more than 35,000 items of equipment each year in Portsmouth.

The most needed items at the moment include walking sticks, crutches, chair raisers, commodes, bed levers, mattresses, shower chairs and stools or perching stools, raised toilet seats, cushions, toilet frames, trolleys, wheeled adjustable frames and bath seats or lifts.

Returning equipment will help support others to remain as independent as possible in their own home and also can free up much needed hospital beds –something that is a priority at the moment.

Councillor Jason Fazackarley, the council’s health, wellbeing and social care boss, encouraged people with any unused equipment to come forward.

‘Make sure you return any equipment you are not using,’ he said.

‘You or a family member found it useful so there will be someone else in a similar situation who could do with it.

SEE ALSO: Some Portsmouth schoolchildren have ‘never seen a dentist’

‘Certainly we try to allow people to stay at home where possible to take off some of the pressure on our hospitals, and this is a way to help with that.’

All equipment that is returned will be assessed and safety tested before being refurbished, repaired, reused or recycled.

If you, a friend, relative, or carer has equipment supplied by the council via NRS Healthcare, you can arrange a free collection by calling 0333 240 8334 on weekdays from 9am to 5pm or emailing [email protected].

Alternatively, you can return it directly yourself during opening hours to NRS Healthcare at Unit E9 Voyager Park in Portfield Road.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

Subscribe here for unlimited access to all our coverage, including Pompey, for just 26p a day.