Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is replacing 750 beds and mattresses across its sites as part of a new contract with Medstrom Healthcare.
The implementation marks Cardiff and Vale as the first health board in the country to utilise the combination of P.R.O. Matt Plus semi-dynamic surfaces and MMO 5000 ultra-low beds.
The benefits of the semi-dynamic surfaces include Pressure Redistribution Optimisation (PRO) technology, which replicates the surface profile of a therapeutic air mattress and requires no manual inflation, providing benefits to both patients and staff.
Denise Shanahan, consultant nurse for older and vulnerable adults at the health board, endorses the benefits of ultra-low beds with split side rails. She said: “We worked with Medstrom to increase the fleet of high-low beds within the Cardiff and Vale region, while also looking at opportunities to improve bed rails.
In a bed with full rails, patients can become agitated, so the design of split bed rails was essential to reduce risk and improve patient comfort and confidence.
“This increased patient confidence comes from a much-more-flexible approach, with patients feeling and being less restricted thanks to the split bed rail design.”
She added: “Given my role working with older adults and those with dementia, the bed changes were something I felt very strongly about.”
In addition to improvement in patient care, staff will also reap benefits from the bed implementation.
Rachel Apsey, sales and marketing director for Medstrom, said: “With patient care, safety and comfort remaining our primary focus, Medstrom helps customers ease the pressure on staff with products that require minimal manual intervention, as well as bed management services that help increase efficiency and reduce cost.
“In the case of Cardiff and Vale, Medstrom helped the board at a time when there was a real need to pay attention to the ever-increasing ageing population, co-developing a solution that meets its specific needs and improves the wellbeing of patients and staff.”
Dr Linda Walker, surgery clinical board director of nursing, added: “With an ageing population comes the need for higher-quality, more-clinically-effective products, thus the need to standardise our beds and mattresses to ensure all patients are cared for at the highest standard on a consistent basis.
“We have utilised P.R.O Matt Therapy across several hospitals and could see the benefit of implementing these surfaces across the health board. That, combined with the innovative design of split rails on the ultra-low beds, provided us with a reliable approach in caring for our patient population.”