Hospital staff are appealing for people to offload their unwanted Christmas presents.

Staff at the Elective Orthopaedic Centre (EOC) at Epsom Hospital are collecting discarded gifts from the festive season to use as prizes in a fundraising raffle and tombola.

June Riodan, outcomes coordinator at the EOC, said: "The donations can be anything at all.

"The ‘smellies’ that you don’t like the smell of, the wine that you don’t like the taste of, the book you have already read, the top that doesn’t fit - even a box of chocolates." 

The call for donations forms part of a charity campaign which culminates in a sponsored walk in June.

The walk is held every other year and in 2011 the EOC raised £75,000 to support research and education into diseases and injuries of bones, joints, nerves and muscles.

For more information contact Caren Dove at caren.dove@eoc.nhs.uk or on 01372 735833.