What to ask before equipment and supplies arrive at the house

The five details to write down about every single item

Every item that comes into the house gets one line in a log. Five columns, and it takes ninety seconds per item.

What it is — the actual product name and model number, not "the chair." Size or setting — the height it was set to, the size ordered, the width. Who supplied it — company name and a direct phone number, not the hospital switchboard. Rented or bought — and if rented, from what date, at what rate, and who is being billed. Reorder or service date — when the consumable runs out, or when it needs checking.

Then do two physical things. Photograph the label on the item itself, the one with the model and serial number, and keep the photograph. And stick a label on the item with the supplier's phone number on it, so that whoever is in the house at 9pm on a Sunday can find the number without finding you.

This log lives in the binder, not in your phone, because other people need to read it.

Questions to ask whoever recommends the equipment

Whoever suggests a piece of equipment — the discharge nurse, the occupational therapist, the doctor's office — is the right person for these questions, and the moment to ask them is before you leave the conversation.

Write the answers down with the name of the person who gave them and the date. "Rented, hospital supplies it, review at 6 weeks — told by discharge planner, 4 June" is a complete note.

• Is this recommended for now, or long term?
• Who orders it, and has it been ordered, or am I ordering it?
• Is it rented or bought, and if rented, for how long and who is billed?
• Does it need to be measured or fitted, and by whom?
• Who shows us how to use it safely, and when does that happen?
• Is there a trial period, and what happens if it does not suit?
• Does anything need to change in the house before it arrives — a door, a socket, space?
• Will it fit through the doorways? Here are my measurements — will you check them against the model?
• Is there a written instruction sheet, and can I have it before delivery?
• Who do I tell if it is not working out — you, or the supplier?
• Is there anything about this that needs to go on my parent's record, and who does that?

Questions to ask the supplier

The supplier is a company and you are a customer. Ask like a customer. These are the questions that determine what happens on the bad night, and none of them are awkward.

Start with delivery: what date, what time window, who unloads it, and who assembles it. Ask whether the delivery driver sets it up or leaves it in a box in the hall, because those are very different days.

Then the failure questions, which are the ones people forget. What is the number to ring when it breaks? Is that number answered outside office hours, and if not, what happens overnight? What is the response time for a repair? Is there a loan replacement while ours is repaired, and does that cost anything? What is the warranty, how long, and what does it exclude?

Then the leaving questions. How do we return it, who collects it, is there a collection charge, and how long does the final bill take to stop?

Get a named contact and a direct extension. Write both on the item's line in the log, and on the label stuck to the item itself.

Questions about money, asked before delivery

Ask these before anything arrives. Afterwards you are negotiating about an object that is already in the hall.

Ask the supplier: what is the cash price, what is the rental rate, and is there a point at which renting costs more than buying? Ask them to put the figures in an email.

Ask the insurance plan separately, and ask them in these words: "Is this item covered, at what level, and does it need prior authorisation before it is ordered?" Then ask for a reference number for the call and the name of the person who answered. Coverage varies by plan and by item, and the only answer that counts is the one their plan gives you, in writing, with a reference number.

Ask who submits any paperwork — the supplier, the doctor's office, or you. This is the single most common place where an order stalls for three weeks, because each party assumes another one did it.

Ask what happens if it is delivered before the authorisation comes through, and who is liable for the cost if the answer comes back no.

File the quote, the authorisation reference and the first invoice together.

The consumables that quietly run out

Equipment is a one-off problem. Supplies are a recurring one, and they are the thing that generates the 8pm emergency trip to the shop.

Build a reorder log with six columns: item, exact size or type, how many used per week, supplier, lead time in days, and the minimum stock level at which you reorder. Set the minimum at two weeks' worth, not one — lead times slip.

Count what is used in a normal week rather than estimating it. Almost everyone underestimates, and the underestimate is what causes the shortage.

Decide one shelf, one cupboard, one place. Everything lives there and nothing lives anywhere else. Put the reorder log on the inside of the cupboard door with a pen on a string, so whoever takes the last packet writes it down.

Set a standing weekly slot — the same ten minutes every week — to walk to the cupboard and read the log. Put it in the calendar with a name.

And keep a small duplicate set in the hospital bag, so that an unplanned admission does not also become a supply problem.

• Item and exact size or type — write the number from the packet, not "the medium ones"
• How many are used in a normal week, counted rather than guessed
• Supplier, account number and direct phone number
• Lead time in days, from ordering to arrival
• Reorder level: two weeks' worth remaining
• Who is responsible for reordering, by name
• Where the spare stock lives, and what is in the go-bag

The twenty minutes after it arrives

Do this the day it lands, not the following weekend. It never happens the following weekend.

Photograph the item, the serial number label, and the instruction sheet. Put the photographs in the binder folder with the date in the filename.

Write the line in the equipment log. Stick the supplier label on the item. Put the paper instruction sheet in the binder rather than in the drawer it came with, and keep the box only if the return policy requires it — write on the box in marker which item it belongs to, and the return deadline.

Make sure the person who is in the house most often has actually been shown how it works, not just told. If the delivery driver demonstrated it to you and not to your parent, arrange the demonstration again for whoever else uses it, and note who has been shown and on what date.

Send one message to your siblings: what arrived, who supplied it, what it cost, and where the paperwork is. Three lines. It takes a minute and it is the difference between a family that knows what is happening and a family that finds out at Christmas.

Questions