Designed & created by
Gavin Wright
Terms & Conditions 59 Balliol Close, Peterlee, Co.Durham, England. SR8 2NX e-mail
Aintree Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has just taken delivery of 11 remote control bed/trolley driving devices and refurbished 4 older bed driving units. The total cost for this project was £115k and is the biggest single order in the UK of this type.
The devices are made to drive beds and trolleys up gradient corridors in order to minimise or eliminate pushing forces. HSE provide pushing/pulling force guidelines and it is very easy to exceed these guidelines if the ground is not level. The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (As amended) were changed in 2004 when the force guidelines were reduced.
Hospital beds and trolleys are changing too and improving ergonomically but they are also heavier, a traditional King’s Fund hydraulic bed designed in 1967 weighs 90kg, these are gradually being replaced in Acute Trusts by electric profiling bed frames. An average electric profiling bed can weigh 150kg and modern trolleys can be 118kg or more, these advances in technology can bring different hazards.
There are few suppliers of bed/trolley driving devices and a European advertisement received only 4 potential manufacturers and only 3 went on to tender. It is extremely difficult to get a driving device that will connect with every bed and trolley type that may be used within a large acute hospital. There does not appear to be a truly universal adaptor despite some manufacturers claims.
Aintree Hospitals worked with RRB Netherlands to develop adaptors to fit the majority of bed and trolley stock and the result after prototypes and trials means we can now drive most of our beds and trolley types. The images give some indication of the device and how it is used, the mother unit (driver) connects to one end or the bed or trolley and the remote handset connects to the other.
There are benefits to patients who will have a smoother and better controlled ride when being pushed up steep corridors, there is also better control during the descent as the motor controls momentum. Staff will benefit too as the manual handling task is eliminated so everyone wins in the end.
Contributed by Ken Cookson Manual Handling Advisor
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/8037414.stm
