Every year, more than 35,000 mobility aids and assistive items including raised toilet frames, crutches and wheelchairs are loaned to patients recovering from illness or injury and many are not returned.
It costs HNZ thousands of dollars every year and many patients have to wait for suitable equipment.
Unit manager Kristen Dickson said she understood people intended to return the equipment but sometimes did not get around to it.
"Sometimes people assume that if something has been sitting in a garage or a spare room for a few months or years, it will be too late and we won’t need it any more.
"But most of these items can be cleaned and re-used many times."
She said people with overdue loan equipment were not in trouble.
"There is no penalty for late return. We’re just glad to get the equipment back — no questions asked.
"We just want to be able to help more patients."
The equipment can be returned to these pick-up points across Otago and Southland:
— In Dunedin, at Wakari Hospital.
— In Mosgiel, Mosgiel Health Centre.
— In Clyde and Cromwell, Dunstan Hospital.
— In Wānaka, District Nurses office.
— In the Waitaki district, Oamaru Hospital.
— In Invercargill, Southland Hospital.
— In Gore, Gore Hospital.
— In the Queenstown Lakes district, Lakes District Hospital. — Allied Media
