About 40 pairs of crutches go missing every month

September has been declared a crutch amnesty month at Maidstone Hospital's Emergency Care Centre.

Managers are hoping the initiative will save the hospital �800 a month, and they have said no questions will be asked of patients returning crutches.

It is estimated patients who fail to return their crutches cost the unit about �9,600 a year.

Mark Atkinson, Emergency Care Centre manager, said at least 40 pairs of crutches went missing each month.

"We then have to buy additional crutches and this revenue could be spent on the patients themselves," he said.