Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department are taking to help increase the recycling of hospital equipment, including crutches; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a returns scheme for this equipment.

National Health Service organisations are locally responsible for policies on the reuse and recycling of hospital equipment. Patients are encouraged to contact the local NHS trust which can advise on how equipment can be returned or re-used where it is safe to do so.