Healthcare specialist, Sidhil, has won a contract worth in excess of £1.5m for the supply of Innov8 ward beds as part of a total bed replacement programme planned by City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.
The trust has opted for Sidhil's Innov8 Low and Innov8 iQ beds for use at its two city hospitals, Sunderland Royal and Sunderland Eye Infirmary.
City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust provides a wide range of hospital services to a local community of around 350,000 residents, along with an increasing range of mor- specialised services provided to patients outside this area, in some cases to a population as great as 860,000. The trust also provides a substantial range of community-based services, particularly within family care and therapy services.
When the decision was made to replace existing bed stock, the trust conducted extensive reviews of product available from all major suppliers, including visiting its premises to assess manufacturing and support facilities. Sidhil's Innov8 Low and Innov8 iQ beds provide the high levels of performance and functionality demanded by the trust, matching the specific requirements identified by clinicians and the procurement team.
The Innov8 Low, designed to provide total flexibility in terms of bed specification for applications from utility ward beds through to high dependency environments, features a minimum platform height of just 22cm. One of the lowest available on the market today, the bed is already contributing to falls prevention strategies in hospitals across the UK.
Electrically-operated functions include auto contouring, giving simultaneous adjustment of backrest and kneebreak, with cardiac chair function and auto regression avoiding surface pinching or occupant sliding, as well as Trendelenburg and reverse Trendelenburg positioning. Solid platform panels incorporate ridges for breathability, to simplify decontamination and to improve infection control.
For the paediatric wards, Sunderland has selected Sidhil's Innov8 iQ complete with split siderails. Designed to meet the ever-increasing challenges of the modern hospital environment and satisfying the highest standards for safety and reliability, the new Innov8 iQ gives the acute market access to an affordable, high-specification bed equipped for use across the entire patient population.
Developed with patient safety in mind, this bed also features a low mattress platform height to assist with falls prevention strategies. The side rails are cleverly designed to drop to a lower level than the mattress platform, ensuring patient egress and ingress is safe and unhindered, whilst built-in dampers ensure they lower at a measured rate, a particularly important option for the paediatric environment.
Sidhil has also been awarded an annual service contract for the beds. This enables Sunderland to take advantage of Sidhil's extended warranty on Innov8 beds serviced by the company's own maintenance teams, which extends the warranty to a full 10 years while the service contract remains in place.
