Drapes - bed sheets?!!!

Re: Drapes - bed sheets?!!!

Hope — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 12:13:28 GMT

Thank you all very much for your replies, it has really reassured me, I will bite my tongue and continue as we are,

we do have an NHS contact so may ask them as well.

Thank you all

Re: Drapes - bed sheets?!!!

Sal the 1st — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 10:28:00 GMT

you could always try and find a tame NHS contact - the NHS throw away so much stuff that is perfectly useable. There must be millions wasted every year.

Re: Drapes - bed sheets?!!!

Joanna Christoffersen — Sun, 02 Mar 2014 06:59:45 GMT

I can understand your concerns, but as other people have said, it will be to do with cost and shouldn't cause that much of an issue, but you could always try speaking to reps from vet supply companies and see if you can get some proper cloth drapes donated? Or speak to other practices etc and see if they have surplus supplies they can donate, after all when it comes to charities every little helps!

Re: Drapes - bed sheets?!!!

Nicola Smith — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 21:16:58 GMT

I worked at an animal charity admittedly many years ago now and we used sterilised bed sheets as drapes. No it isnt perfect but there are many private practices using cloth drapes which are a bit the worse for wear.

Re: Drapes - bed sheets?!!!

Sal the 1st — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 19:21:04 GMT

there are still plenty of practices who use cloth drapes - it really isnt that unusual and plenty of places that pack kits in a cloth inner. Using fenestrated woven cloth drapes that havnt been hemmed is a bit unusual tho. At the end of the day if the surgeon is happy using them and everybody else is happy using them and they are happy that there are no problems as a result ...

What you need to consider if you are working for a charity is that by doing things this way - the charity may be using the resources they have in the best way that they can. Disposable drapes although you might think they are cheap over the course of a year would add up to a tidy little sum and if the charity feels that money is better spent elsewhere you are on a hiding to nothing . I used to work for one of the bigger animal charities in this country, in a busy hospital and 9 times out of 10 unless it was an orthopaedic we used cloth drapes because the cost of disposable wasn't sustainable (and besides that more than one of the vets preferred cloth as it 'draped' better)

Tread carefully because although the people running the charity have no veterinary qualifications they are probably very savvy about how to make the best use of the money they have and doing the best they can for the maximum number of animals - by producing literature written by X Y or Z they may just start to feel that you are telling them they aren't doing their jobs properly. Try taking it up with the surgeon and see what their views are first?