WE all know what it is like to use a public toilet and find the walls scrawled with graffiti.

But how often do we give it a second thought?

Health bosses are regularly turning their attention to this type of vandalism when it occurs on their property. Because of it, valuable resources which should be used for patient care are being spent on repairing the damage.

The Daily Echo You Can Help Your NHS campaign, which has received the full support of both Prime Minister Tony Blair and Alan Milburn Secretary of State for Health, aims to save the health service £500,000.

Just by treating the hospital equipment with respect, returning walking aids you no longer need, or cancelling appointments you cannot make, you could be helping to save the life of another patient.

Just by taking a few minutes to think about your actions, place a sweet wrapper in the rubbish bin, or being polite to staff, you are helping to make hospitals across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight better places to be.

Southampton General Hospital has to contend with vandalism and graffiti. Recently, £8,000 was spent refurbishing 12 toilets in the hospital's main building. At the same time, a toilet in the east wing was so badly affected by graffiti that it had to be repainted.

John Sanchez-Bisson, estate building manager for the hospital, said: "We did have a toilet in our east wing, in the orthopaedic outpatients' department, which was badly damaged with graffiti on the walls.

"Instead of painting another toilet in the programme we had to use our resources to redo that toilet, which was badly damaged."

Hospital bosses have recently spent £35,000 revamping the extensive £250,000 security system in a bid to combat crime, but, in places where cameras cannot be placed, such as toilets, vandalism still takes place.

Mr Sanchez-Bisson added: "We do have problems with vandalism. People might try and take a toilet roll holder off the wall.

"Graffiti is a bit of a problem. It would be mainly in the toilets where people can try and scratch their name on the back of the door, or something like that, or often it can be with a marker pen.

"They would then need to be repainted. It's meant that toilets had to be repainted twice where another one's been left longer."

Pat Forsyth, communications manager at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, said the Queen Alexandra and St Mary's Hospitals also suffer from similar problems.

"We sometimes get groups, particularly in the school holidays, groups of young lads, and I mean quite young, ten to 12-year-olds, who come in and it's a bit of a sport really, to evade the security officers.

"Mainly it's just writing on things and tipping things over."

Tipping a rubbish bin over may seem like a minor act, but it still means staff have to spend time clearing up the mess when they could be cleaning the wards, or mending a broken toilet.

Staff are urging members of the public to look after hospital equipment, as they are the ones who lose out if things are missing or broken.

Mr Sanchez-Bisson said: "My message to the culprits would be that they need to treat our buildings with respect. They wouldn't do it in their own home and have to spend their money twice."

Have you missed out on treatment or care because the hospital could not afford it? Do you have any suggestions as to how the public could help the NHS? Call Daily Echo health reporter Emma Barnett on 023 8042 4505 or e-mail using the link above.