‘Returns roadshow’ to bring back thousands of pounds worth of community equipment into circulation

Services and equipment provider Medequip is encouraging thousands of pounds worth of forgotten and unwanted community equipment to be brought back into circulation after a successful ‘returns roadshow’ in Durham & Darlington that saw hundreds of items returned.

Medequip assists the NHS by supplying equipment for patient discharge to home, which is why it is vital that equipment on loan from Medequip is returned when it is no longer needed. No matter what condition the equipment is in, the depot will accept it, as all that is returned gets recycled in line with the NHS’s commitment to sustainability.

The roadshow saw equipment returned to drop-off points at the Arnison Centre, Durham and Morrisons Morton Park, Darlington, including assistive technology like walking frames, commodes and perching stools.

Through advertising of the roadshow via press and social media, the week building up to and the week of the event saw returns to the local Medequip depot skyrocket from a healthy hoard of around one thousand products returned per week to more than doubling, peaking at nearly three thousand products during the week of the roadshow.

Recently, Medequip formed a partnership with Age UK Wirral, a local independent charity that offers a wide variety of services to support older people, their families and carers in the Wirral area, to encourage community equipment returns.

Earlier this year, Medequip joined a co-production group in partnership with Durham CCG, County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, Darlington Borough Council & Tees Valley CCG.

Recruitment of the co-production group started in November 2021 to gather thoughts from local people on how we could improve elements of the service offered in Durham & Darlington. The co-production group homed in on recycling equipment and the difficulties of returning equipment.

Key figures soon got to work on reviewing notes from public meetings and putting plans and measures in place to arrange what was referred to as an equipment returns roadshow, rather than an ’amnesty’.

Find out more about the equipment drop off on Medequip’s website.