In our last blog we brought you important news of the latest National Patient Safety Alert from the MHRA ( Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) regarding risk of death from entrapment or falls from medical beds, bed rails, bed grab handles, trolleys and lateral turning devices, including worrying statistics in the report that from January 1st 2018 – December 31st 2022:
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18 people died from injuries related to entrapment or falls
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54 people were seriously injured
Likely causes included worn or broken parts, which SHOULD have been replaced during regular servicing and maintenance, but which were either not carried out at all, or were carried out improperly.
The moral of this story is:
A lack of regular and thorough bed maintenance can have serious implications and consequences!
Here at Hcsuk Servicing, as part of our 46 Point Safety Check Profiling Bed Service, there are 8 checks specifically relating to the bed rails including:
4 bed rail performance checks to ensure your bed rails are working correctly and safely and
4 bed rails regulations checks, including measurements, to ensure compliance with current bed rail regulations.
Here’s our Field Servicing Engineer Phil Cotton with a brief insight into how thorough our bed rail checks are, and some sound advice for you:
COMING SOON!!! Why not Join our waiting list for our BRAND NEW FREE guide based around bed rail safety and avoiding entrapment!
Join the waiting list here:
Minimum height measurement compliance:
‘When it comes to bed rail service inspections, the MAIN thing that is checked is the mattress to top rail height, as there is a recommended minimum height measurement of 220mm which is in place to safeguard potential issues of residents accidentally falling out of the bed.
If beds are found to be under the 220mm minimum height, here at HCSUK it is reported on the service report, along with the ACTUAL measurement taken at the time, and is advised that they are under the minimum regulation measurement.
Bed rails and rail sliders are checked thoroughly for any kind of damage, including splits in the wood or rail end caps (if fitted), any delamination of the wipe clean surfaces of the rails and any damage to the rail sliders and how they are secured into their tracks.
Phil’s helpful hints:
Bed Platform Height Options:
Certain profiling beds have 2 platform height options available, so to err on the safe side, it makes absolute sense to always set them on the lower setting to help alleviate any potential issues with different mattress depths being used on the same bed.
Adhering to UK Bed Regulations BS EN 50637:2017
In the main, manufacturers produce rails on all of their beds to meet ALL of the dimension requirements of the UK’s regulations, and this is how they are certified for sale here in the UK, so the gaps between each rail and also the platform, and any gaps from rail ends to bed ends, if there ARE any should be within regulations if purchased from a reputable UK bed manufacturer/supplier.
Caution when purchasing new profiling beds
One last important note to make, is that great care and due diligence should be given in respect to UK regulations, when you are considering purchasing a new profiling bed. Beds purchased from the likes of Ebay, Amazon etc, if manufactured oversees, may not be UK certified and therefore NOT complaint with UK’s regulations. Therefore, could potentially cause the care homes legal issues should any injuries or issues occur, and of course lead to being false economy in the long run ‘especially if a number of beds are being purchased.’
Why not Join our waiting list for our BRAND NEW FREE guide based around bed rail safety and avoiding entrapment!
If you have any questions or would like to discuss any aspect of bed servicing or bed rail safety why not book a call with me , here, email me at servicing@hcsuk.co.uk or call me on my direct line 01773 532588
Further articles you may find valuable:
https://hcsuk.co.uk/everything-you-need-to-know-about-profiling-bed-servicing/
https://app.hubspot.com/content-detail/7892776/blog-post/123729607006/performance
