Bed pan shortage at hospital

MEN in Ipswich Hospital are facing an uncomfortable time today due to a shortage of disposable urinal bottles.

Two of the warehouses that supply hospitals in Britain with the bottles suffered fires recently, leaving the NHS facing a national lack of the equipment during the last eight weeks.

It means Ipswich Hospital has only been able to secure half of its normal supply, and male patients who cannot use the toilet are being asked to use female bed pans or bottles instead.

Jan Rowsell, hospital spokeswoman, said: “We had a plan in place to make sure that our supply was very good and we continued to get 50 per cent of our normal supply.

“But it has meant that we have not had as many available as we wanted.

“The problem should resolve itself very soon; we have been told it will be sorted by the middle of January so we are hopeful it will be very soon.

“We are making sure people who do very much need them do have them. And there are lots of alternatives available; it is just not what people are used to.”