Origins of medical equipment service

Inter-war activity

After the First World War, the Red Cross extended its original objectives to include peacetime activities. The charter of the Red Cross was extended so it could undertake work to improve people’s health. Medical equipment depots were established from 1919 onwards to lend surplus equipment that had been needed during the First World War. The depots got their start when doctors asked Red Cross detachments if they could help by loaning people items like bed rests and invalid chairs. This developed in many areas, resulting in a number of permanent equipment depots being set up by the 1920s.

The voluntary aid detachments (VADs) of Britain contained over 90,000 members by 1919 and so constituted a valuable body of workers. In an article on the future of the Red Cross and the VAD in the organisation’s Journal in March 1919 it was recognised that:

	War is a great struggle which calls forth all the voluntary energy available. But peace also involves struggle.

The Red Cross had proved capable of embracing services of all kinds through its VADs and hoped that the great reputation it earned during the war would be not only maintained but also enhanced in days of peace.

An inter-county conference was held in 1920 to discuss future peace work for the Red Cross and St John and to organise a central scheme across counties. Some people thought that, because the war had ended, hospitals had to come to an end and that there were no more wounded men. This was not the case. The Joint Council of the British Red Cross and Order of St John was every day getting increasing demands from hospitals for exactly the luxuries, medical stores and games that they used to supply to military hospitals during the war.

Development of the service

In an article from January 1922 on the future work of VADs, Dr H. Poole Berry praised the good work being done by Red Cross members in the maintenance and management of the medical supply depots. The Joint Council aimed to open medical supply depots throughout the country offering requisites, such as water-beds, bronchitis kettles and air pillows, to be loaned out to patients at a nominal charge of a few pence. These depots were to be of great assistance to individuals who were sick and suffering in their homes and could not afford the cost of buying or even hiring such articles at a commercial rate.

In August 1922, the Joint Council stores department published a revised list of prices for various medical requisites showing the growth of depots throughout the country. In the same year, the service was highlighted as an area of work that was proving particularly successful. In a leaflet issued by the Norfolk Branch about their peace work, medical supply depots appeared high on the list.

 Huntingdon depot

Miss Cranfield and her detachment of VADs administered this Branch of the County Red Cross peace work

Grantham depot

A grant for the purchase of equipment from the South Lincolnshire County Committee made it possible to open a depot in Grantham on 2 May 1921. The room was on business premises kindly lent by Mr J W Lee, Commandant of VAD Lincoln/11, who also dealt with applications for loans.

The depot opened every weekday. VADs from Lincoln/6 and /12 cleaned and sterilised all articles that had been used. Loan application forms were issued to doctors, district nurses, group-leaders and commandants. Though the depot started with a large and varied selection of the articles likely to be required, it was soon necessary to increase the stock. Applications for large circular air cushions, bed-rests, bed-pans and bath chairs were especially numerous and an additional waterbed was an immediate necessity. The number of requests for loans increased very steadily all through the summer and during the winter the drain on resources was considerable. For certain articles, a waiting list was unavoidable.

In the first nine months, 138 people had been supplied from the depot and 163 articles had been out on loan. With the exception of some of the larger items, the weekly charge for the loan of an article was never more than from between 1 shilling and 3 pence. In January 1922 over £11 had been taken in these small payments. The depot was clearly supplying a real need, not only in the town but also in the many neighbouring villages.

A supply of roller bandages, splints, cotton-wool and lint were also kept at the depot for use in case of street accidents or other emergencies. The doctors and district nurses gave the scheme every support, but the depot was entirely under Red Cross control. By November 1924, there were also eight medical supply depots in the North Lincolnshire area. Stretchers were sent out to 58 villages in case of accident.

Derbyshire and East Lancashire

The medical equipment depot in Derbyshire also proved successful. Free loans of 165 articles, such as water-beds, air cushions, bath chairs were made. The number of loans for the year ending December 1923 included 320 items and a total of 510 articles had been sent out between the war ending and April 1923. In the Whalley Range, Moss-side and Hulme Division of East Lancashire, the equipment available for loan was constantly in circulation by 1924 and proved to be a boon to the district. Further items had to be purchased to meet the demand. The medical supply depot in Liverpool helped 2,000 sick civilians in the same year.

London

In London, depots opened in Battersea, Fulham, Kensington and Hammersmith divisions between March and April 1923. Nine depots in total were running in 1923. VADs were in charge of the equipment and the work was done in co-operation with the district nurses. The divisions reported that the depots were supplying a much-needed service that was greatly appreciated. Arrangements could also be made for urgent cases to obtain equipment out of hours. By 1924 there were eleven supply depots in London and the work was increasing daily. From one depot alone, 558 loans were made during its first year.

Hampshire

Hampshire had medical supply depots in towns and many villages by 1924. The Red Cross established a depot in Christchurch in August 1921, at first on a very small scale. By December 1921, district nurses in Christchurch and Mudeford found the depot so useful that many items were added to the store. Three depots had been formed in villages in the district by 1924.

Townspeople appreciated the depot so much that they gave two £10 donations, first in 1922 and again in 1923. The boys of the church schools made bed tables and bed rests for the depot. Around 100 articles were given or lent annually. No payment was asked for but those who could afford it sent a small donation. In 1922 a bath chair was presented to the depot as a gift and it was used almost daily.

Medical treatment

Trained nurses and VADs also provided treatments at some supply depots. The Biggleswade supply depot, which opened in Bedfordshire on 5 December 1921, had a trained nurse, as the sister in charge and three VAD nurses on duty every day except Sunday to do the dressings and carry out general duties. Local doctors visited regularly to supervise dressings and the deputy medical officer for Bedfordshire visited periodically. The patients were mostly school children but other people were also treated if sent by a doctor. Between December 1921 and May 1923, Biggleswade depot issued 90 medical items, carried out 13,196 dressings and treated 8,402 other cases.

In another example, the depot in Belmont, Surrey, was particularly welcomed as they did not have a district nurse.

Post-Second World War

After the war, there was a great demand for invalid chairs because of the number of disabled servicemen. Some depots had a small section devoted to diversional occupations, such as packs of cards, draught boards, jig-saw puzzles and any other popular games which could be played by patients with long-term illnesses.

In East Riding several medical equipment depots were run entirely by volunteers, mostly from their own homes, and were used to a great extent by the district nurses and doctors.

Although some district nursing associations and chemists lent medical equipment, there was still an urgent need for more depots to ensure that every town and rural area could be covered by the scheme. Some depots were open for one or two hours daily, while more urban depots were always open, as the resident householder was a volunteer and responsible for the equipment.

One Branch found that starting a medical equipment depot in an urban neighbourhood helped the Red Cross become known throughout the district and looked to as a never failing means of help.

Partnerships

Once people found out about the depots in their areas, they often donated medical equipment to them. The Red Cross worked with local doctors, chemists, district nurses and hospital almoners to ensure their full co-operation and to make certain there was no overlapping. District nurses were glad to be able to send patients to the depots for any equipment that they were unable to supply. The Red Cross Reconstruction Committee suggested to seek the advice from District nurses regarding items that would be of the greatest use to them in an  information sheet issued to Branches in 1945 about  Post-Second World War work. The Red Cross sometimes staffed depots that were hosted on the premises of the district nursing association.

Continuing success

One grateful customer wrote:

	Thanking you for all your great help enabling us to borrow a chair for my 81–year-old mother-in-law. She has now got a priceless memory of the day she sat on the beach after 46 years.

It had been late one night when Mrs V. Buxton-Knight was asked to supply a wheelchair. There was not one in the medical equipment depot at the Selsey Centre, Sussex Branch, at the time, but she was able to get one from another depot a mile away and made the difference to a family’s weekend.

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