A RISE in the number of people making off with crutches from the county’s hospitals has caused health bosses to call an amnesty.

A similar appeal was held three years ago, when 15 to 20 pairs of crutches were going missing every month – amounting to as many as 240 pairs a year.

But NHS Oxfordshire says more than double that amount is now going ‘walkabout’, because patients fail to return them after recovering from leg injuries.

Each pair of crutches costs £11.80, and just the three minor injuries units at Abingdon, Henley and Witney lose about 500 pairs a year between them.

And that is landing the primary care trust with a £6,000 annual bill for replacements, This is on top of the many sets of crutches handed out at the county’s main hospitals, especially the casualty units at the John Radcliffe, in Oxford, and The Horton in Banbury.

The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust does not have accurate figures on how many pairs the hospitals lose.

Community Health Oxfordshire, the arm of the primary care trust which runs community hospitals, has appealed to people to return crutches they no longer need.

Angie O’Neill, a senior nurse practitioner at Abingdon Hospital, said it was shelling out hundreds of pounds a week ordering more.

She said: “I don’t think people are taking them away on purpose.

“It’s just a matter of forgetting they’ve got them. But we’re running very short.

“We hand out about 15 to 20 pairs of crutches each week.

“Then we’re having to order at least 10 more each time, because people aren’t bringing them back.”

The amnesty in 2007 prompted hundreds of patients to return crutches they no longer needed to the community hospitals.

Pete McGrane, the clinical lead of urgent care at Abingdon Hospital, said: “They can return them to any hospital, if they’re not able to get back to the one where they had treatment.

He added: “Just bring them in to any minor injury or first aid unit.

“No questions will be asked. We will be glad to reuse any equipment that’s still in working order.”