We know how vital the role care homes play in providing support and assistance to elderly and vulnerable individuals.
Care teams rely heavily on essential patient care equipment including hoists and slings, profiling beds, air flow mattresses, weighing scales and other mobility aids to ensure the safety and well-being of their residents.
Regular servicing, maintenance and LOLER testing of this equipment is essential to keep it in good working order and helps prevent costly repairs.
With careful planning and budgeting, care homes can ensure that their equipment is well-maintained, reliable, and safe for their residents.
In this article, we give you our 5 key steps to help you budget for your care home’s equipment servicing expenses.
STEP 1: Develop a Comprehensive Equipment Inventory
The first step is for you to develop a comprehensive equipment inventory. This should include all the equipment used in your care home, including all lifting equipment, slings, profiling beds, air flow mattresses, medical devices, weighing scales, mobility aids, and safety equipment.
Having an accurate inventory will help you keep track of what equipment needs servicing, when it was last serviced, and how much it costs. This information will be essential in developing an accurate budget for equipment servicing expenses.
STEP 2: Prioritize Equipment Servicing
Some equipment is more critical than others, so it’s essential that you prioritize equipment servicing based on its importance. For example, medical devices such as oxygen concentrators, nebulizers, and ventilators should be serviced more frequently than mobility aids.
It’s also important to prioritize equipment based on how often you’re using its and how critical it is to resident safety and well-being.
All lifting equipment is covered under L.O.L.E.R. regulations and is required to be inspected at 6 monthly intervals. This MUST be strictly adhered to, to keep both the residents and care staff safe, and from a business perspective, to keep your care home fully compliant with CQC and HSE.
To learn more about both essential requirements and best practice in care home equipment servicing why not download our FREE guide here.
STEP 3: Allocate Funds for Regular Maintenance
Regular servicing and maintenance is essential to keep your equipment in good working order and helps prevent costly repairs. Accruing funds in your budget for regular maintenance, such as cleaning, lubricating, and replacing worn parts will help extend the life of your equipment, reducing the need for costly repairs or replacements in the long term.
This is especially relevant to profiling beds which most definitely benefit from an annual service, as this will highlight any issues including:
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Platform damage or corrosion
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Failing side rail sliders
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Fixing bolts or castor wheels coming loose
Any damaged wiring underneath the platform which are vulnerable to being caught and damaged by portable lifting hoist legs which includes the main 240v power cable to the control unit on the beds.
You can read our article ‘Everything you need to know about Profiling Bed Servicing’ here.
STEP 4: Plan for Emergency Repairs
Even with regular maintenance, equipment can break down unexpectedly, requiring emergency repairs. Plan for emergency repairs in your budget by setting aside funds for unexpected expenses. This will help prevent the need to dip into other budget categories or rely on loans or credit cards to cover unexpected expenses.
STEP 5: Consider Outsourcing Equipment Servicing
In many cases, it can be more cost-effective and safer to invest in outsourcing your equipment servicing to a third-party provider.
Outsourcing can help reduce staffing costs and give you peace of mind that your equipment is being serviced by trained professionals with the necessary skills, experience and expertise.
Outsourcing can also act as an independent assessment, similar to an MOT is for the inspection of vehicles - ensuring that the safety of the staff and residents, and the liabilities of your care home are fully covered for all concerned.
This is exactly why L.O.L.E.R. inspections are required to be performed by an external inspection specialist and not by your care home’s own maintenance team.
When considering outsourcing, it’s important to approach several providers to find the right package of service and support, quality and value for money which is right for your home.
You may also find our article ‘What to look for in a hoist inspection company’ helpful here.
Here at Hcsuk, we’ve over 30 years’ experience of delivering bespoke servicing packages to care homes. We can take care of all of your equipment servicing and maintenance needs, so you simply don’t need to worry about it!
You can rest assured your equipment will always be kept 100% compliant, through our proactive diary management service, which automatically schedules in your next periodic through examination and LOLER test, ensuring compliance with LOLER regulations at all times.
We can provide you with a single source solution, not just for periodic servicing, but for responsive action for any equipment breakdowns you may experience.
Our seamless service can really benefit your care home by helping you to:
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Improve CQC ratings
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Increased occupancy levels.
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Reduced risk of accidents
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Reduced equipment replacement costs
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Save money - which is important to highlight, particularly in the current economic climate.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of care home equipment servicing, why not book a call with Lee our Customer Servicing Support Manager today by clicking on this link to his calendar and booking a time convenient to you.
Image source: Canva Photos
