HCAI's and Bedside Chairs
The Past and Present.jpg)
The traditional bedside chair has a wooden frame and a seat and back of traditional construction with glued on foam and stapled on Vinyl. It has not changed in its basic shape or construction for 50 years or more and only the vinyl has improved.
Methods of day to day cleaning involve diluted chlorine being wiped over surfaces and an annual steam clean. The only dismantling involves a removable seat being tipped upside down and wiped. Most chair designs have a sacral gap for easier cleaning and to allow extraneous fluids to drain away.
Conclusions to be drawn
Whilst better than nothing, wiping vinyl achieves modest results. Dirt and infection lodges in creases, folds and staples and because most upholstery is fixed, infection lurks between upholstery and the chair frame and in the foam cushions. Steam cleaning helps but bedside chairs are begging to be improved, both in design and technology.
Carers Back Call For Greater Dignity
Care Home Residents Feel Benefits Of Sustained Gold Standard End Of Life Care
Products And Services For Older Adults Need Urgent Innovation
Healthy Food For Healthy Minds
How Clean Is Your Care Home?
Welsh Families Almost Twice As Likely To Notice Health Deterioration In Elderly Relatives.
Incontinence Should Not Be A Taboo, Says Leading Urologist
Demand For Care Home Beds Rises In Run Up To Social Care Funding Revamp
ECCA Responds To CQC Consultation On Fees For Providers From 2012.
Care Crisis: Leave The Bad News In 2011, Says Over-50s Group Saga.
Design Bugs OutCare Home Residents Feel Benefits Of Sustained Gold Standard End Of Life Care
Products And Services For Older Adults Need Urgent Innovation
Healthy Food For Healthy Minds
How Clean Is Your Care Home?
Welsh Families Almost Twice As Likely To Notice Health Deterioration In Elderly Relatives.
Incontinence Should Not Be A Taboo, Says Leading Urologist
Demand For Care Home Beds Rises In Run Up To Social Care Funding Revamp
ECCA Responds To CQC Consultation On Fees For Providers From 2012.
Care Crisis: Leave The Bad News In 2011, Says Over-50s Group Saga.
In order to break the impass the Department of Health has teamed up with the Design Council to produce a solution to this problem. The winners of this competition are slipping from the original time scale and results are awaited in April. A contender for DBO has come up with a more technological answer and has a working prototype that, whilst it looks similar to a traditional chair, is actually
significantly different. The upholstery for both the seat and back peels off with no staples or pins in use. The foam is in a waterproof bag and for an absolute first (and patent applied for). The seat and back are fully removable, giving access to the chair frame for complete cleaning by a wide variety of methods – see below *
Now let’s be clear about what is a significant advance. It is such a step forward that the NHS Technology Rapid Review Committee is reviewing this system before the end of March.
‘The Genesis’ Clean And Replace Any Component Part - System
Imagine what this system can now do for cleaning in hospitals. They now have the choice of upholstering in a vinyl and wiping down regularly or using a washable fabric and removing it and washing it frequently. The foam can be wiped, and returned and in the past if the fabric was damaged, not only did the foam get germs in it, but the chair was normally scrapped.
Under the new system as each component is easily removed and replaced, no chair need ever be thrown away again and only the damaged component need be replaced.
New for 2009 - Clean the Chair By Any Method
*The seat and back components can therefore be removed from the chair frame, the upholstery which is only velcro’d on and the foam which is just as easily removed can be separated from the basic seat and back and these components can be dowsed or submerged in strong solutions of acid or alkali, can be steam cleaned or put in an autoclave using up to 2 bars of pressure. Can also be put in a washing machine or dishwasher, and the chair
frame can at last be accessed properly and cleaned thoroughly.Does better cleaning cost more?
Well, in the case of the patent applied for Genesis System, the answer is an emphatic NO! Whilst there is no doubt that the first chair is about 20% more initially by the time the tradition system is suffering from damage or dirt and being thrown away, then the Genesis might only require a new set of easy to put on upholstery. In fact, we calculate a 30% saving over 10 years and a 50% saving over 15 years use with a better cleaner chair for the whole of its life.
The future
We envisage a time when beautiful flowing designs will replace the angular wooden chair frames, and with 21st century materials but we still envisage the Genesis System being set into these new frames. However there is a strong place for the system set into wooden frames still. Any environment such as respite care, any waiting rooms, Nurses’ accommodation and anywhere looking for a soft welcoming environment but needing cleaning and regular upholstery replacement.
Housing Associations, Universities and any high wear environment should also take notice. For the first time, HCAI’s are on the run with developments coming to your ward in 2009.
Written by Steve Tarling, Managing DirectorWill Beck Limited
Tel: 01494 524 466
www.willbeck.co.uk
An NHS Furniture Contractor
2010-08-27 15:00:51
