Barnsley Hospital serves a community of 250,000 people across the market town of Barnsley, South Yorkshire and the surrounding areas. A wide range of services are provided, from A&E to outpatient clinics and maternity and children’s services.
The Acorn Rehabilitation Unit on Ward 12 is for people who need extra support to regain their independence before returning home. This specialised facility provides an intermediary between the hospital ward and the community, so that patients can be discharged quickly but not left without the extra support they need to continue living independently at home.
The therapists working in the Acorn Unit were looking for seating that would be more suitable for patients who were partially mobile, but working to gain baseline independence and mobility.
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What Healthcare Challenges did the Acorn Rehab Unit face?
The Acorn Rehab Unit were using tilt-in-space wheelchairs and care chairs, designed for patients with complex care needs, but not helping patients to stand and mobilise.
Patients with partial levels of mobility needed a chair they could be wheeled around in and that would facilitate their rehabilitation, helping them to stand and participate in physio and strengthening exercises.
With their current chair fleet, the physio team in Acorn were facing a twofold challenge:
- Patients were sitting out in the tilt-in-space care chairs and wheelchairs for longer periods which is what the chairs are designed for, but countered the purpose of rehabilitation.
- The chairs weren’t designed around sit-to-stand manoeuvres, making transfers on and off the chair more time-consuming and with added risk.
The physio staff were looking for chairs which were easy to move, but helped patients reposition and get to their feet easily.
How did we help them overcome these challenges?
Kieran Heapy, Lead OT in the Acorn Unit got in touch with us for free seating audit and demonstration.
On reviewing their current seating provision, the obvious choice of chair was the Lento Mobile Riser Recliner chair, a hybrid chair ideal for rehabilitation.
Lento Mobile Riser Recliner
The demonstration allowed the clinical team in the Acorn Unit including physios, nurses and OTs, to try the chair out for themselves and experience its easy portability, size adjustment and sit-to-stand functions.
The Lento Mobile is built around the needs of rehabilitation wards with the following features:
- Adjustable push handle, narrow profile and smooth rolling castors to move patients easily from the ward to the rehabilitation unit.
- Electric tilt in space and graded rise to suit the positioning needs of each person and help them stand at their own pace, compatible with standaid devices.
- Waterfall lateral backrest that can be moved and interchanged to suit the postural needs of each user
- Toolless seat height, width, depth and armrest height adjustment to size the chair to each patient for the best postural support
- Removeable armrests for easy side transfers if the patient is unable to do standing transfers.
The rehabilitation staff saw straightaway the advantages the Lento Mobile could bring not only to staff and patient comfort, but speeding up rehabilitation, and purchased one for their ward with gel pressure relief for higher risk patients.
How did this impact overall levels of patient care?
The Lento Mobile was approved through charitable funding for the Acorn Rehab Unit. As a hybrid chair, this combined the comfort and positioning benefits of a care chair with the mobility of a riser recliner. This could cater for all discharged patients, whatever stage of the rehabilitation journey they were at.
The higher specification of the Lento Mobile purchased for the Acorn Unit included the following features:
- Dual Motor rise recline – as well as tilt-in-space and rise, this meant that the backrest and footrest angle could be individually adjusted to each patient’s comfort.
- Infection control spec – using magnetic attachment instead of Velcro, cushions could be easily detached and cleaned with no areas to harbour bacteria.
- The gel overlay provided higher levels of pressure relief for those with fragile skin, and could be detached magnetically if needed.
We revisited the ward a month after the chair was delivered, to check all staff were fully trained in using the chair and comfortable with using all the functions.
Interested in how Vivid Care can support your hospital ward or Trust?
Vivid Care has supplied specialist seating to the NHS since 1972. For more information about how we help the NHS visit Specialist Seating for the NHS | Vivid Care.
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