Stockport NHS Foundation Trust is making an appeal for unused walking aids to be returned so they can be re-used and cut down on waste.

The trust, which runs Stepping Hill Hospital and community NHS services in Stockport, is making the call as part of its green plan to reduce carbon emissions and help to make a sustainable NHS.

Thousands of walking aids are given to patients each year, usually from the trust’s physiotherapy and occupational therapy services. They are an important part of helping a patient’s mobility and recovery, but hundreds of these are not returned, despite many only being for temporary use.

The trust spends around £50,000 each year on new walking aids, much of which could be better spent on staff and facilities. Even damaged items can often be repaired at a lesser cost.

If anyone has an unused walking aid such as metal crutches, metal walking sticks, or a wheeled metal walking aid, they are being requested to hand it in for re-use. Local mobility shops are helping the call by agreeing to be used as centres to hand the items in. 

Walking aids can be returned to the following locations in Stockport: 

• Stepping Hill Hospital – Outpatient Therapy Department
• A6 Mobility Shop, The Courtyard, Wellington Road North, Stockport SK4 1HT
• Ableworld, 315-312 Buxton Road, Stockport SK2 7NL
• Millercare, 181-183 London Road, Hazel Grove, Stockport SK7 4HJ
• The Wheelchair Service, Unit 2, Kennedy Way, Green Lane, Stockport  SK4 2JT

Walking aids only are wanted, and so toileting equipment, kitchen trolleys and perching stools should not be returned.

Anyone who still needs their walking aid should of course keep them to use.  Anyone who has a walking aid which is unfit for use can contact the Adult Community Therapy Team for Stockport on 0161 835 6695 or their local therapy team if they require a replacement walking aid.

Steph Brown, Medicine and Surgery Therapy Team Lead at Stepping Hill Hospital said “We’re very happy to provide walking aids to all our patients,  but if they’re not needed any more they should be re-used. There are now plenty of locations to hand them in, so please hand them in so we can help more patients and the environment too, as well as making savings.”