HOSPITAL bosses yesterday moved to allay fears about waste in the NHS after hospital visitors spotted a pile of new zimmer frames thrown out with the rubbish.
Concerned members of the public rang The Northern Echo to say they had seen a pile of zimmer frames, some of them still in their wrapping, near the boiler house at Shotley Bridge Hospital, Shotley Bridge, near Consett.
Closer inspection revealed about 100 white zimmer frames, used by the elderly as a walking aid, slung on to a tip used to dump rusting hospital equipment.
A spokeswoman for the North Durham NHS Trust, which runs Shotley Bridge Hospital, said the frames were faulty and had been thrown away.
She said: "They were defective when we received them from the manufacturer. When we contacted them they said they couldn't fetch them so they suggested we throw them out."
until they send us the new ones.
"They are now waiting to be disposed of."
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