Crutches cost around £10 to purchase. The charge to collect and decontaminate crutches to the required infecting control standards cost in the region of £20.
@nicola That’s ridiculous. I’m a microbiologist so know and a little about killing bugs and we could effectively decontaminate stuff like crutches for pennies. They are designed to be easily cleaned and would need little more than a good wipe down with something like distel, trigene, or Virkon. And if you were feeling really keen you. Could probably just chuck them in the autoclave. And anyway, we’re not talking about surgical instruments and the hands of the person handing the crutches to the patient are far more likely to be the contamination source than the crutches themselves.