A HOSPITAL has declared an amnesty on laundry thieves.
Patients leaving with hospital linen, including pyjamas, nighties, babywear and blankets, are costing it #25,000 a year.
Managers at Aberdeen Royal Hospitals Trust have decided the only cure is to allow people to hand back hospital property with no action being taken.
It is thought many take the linen by mistake and are simply too embarrassed to return it. Missing towels are the main problem, with about 5000 vanishing each year. Babywear is another favourite.
A trust spokeswoman said: ''We are not saying people are taking them deliberately: people can mistakenly take things home. And we do not expect people to have to bring their own towels.
''We are very much cash conscious these days. If we can retrieve some of the missing items, we can put the money saved back into patient care.
''This is costing us an average of between #20,000 and #25,000 a year.''
She added: ''People might seem more likely to take souvenirs from hotels. But we have nice towels.''
The large, white hospital towels have NHS property woven into them, and some also have an Aberdeen Royal Hospitals NHS Trust logo stamped on them. The scale of the problem has increased with the higher turn-over of patients: more staying in the hospitals for shorter periods of time.
The towels are supplied by a trust department which looks after the linen on the Foresterhill complex, including Aberdeen Maternity Hospital and the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital. It also supplies to Tor-na-Dee, Royal Cornhill and Woodend hospitals.
Another drain on the department's resources are the quantity of blankets which go missing when patients are given one to keep them warm on their journey home.
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