Case Study

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

“For one of our Covid patients being able to use one of these chairs made an enormous difference to his recovery progress and sense of wellbeing”

The Brief

Ahead of the new expanded ICU at Frimley Park opening, staff wanted to explore options for manual, mobile reclining chairs to get patients out of bed and into a chair. The Trusts priority was finding the correct chair to allow patients to recover out of bed reducing recover times.

The patients, often frail with complex needs required a chair with a variety of key features to support them. Furthermore, the chairs need to work with lifting devices and hoists, allowing side transfers, the chairs needed to be easy to clean and operate, and provide a high level of comfort to the patient.

The Approach

The staff shortlisted 3 chairs with varying specifications, and we delivered sample models into the Trust for them to evaluate fully, to gain both Staff and Patient feedback to identify the right model through trial process.

The Outcome

The Mauro Duo-line, a new variation to the Mauro range met all the features staff and patients needed. A comfortable chair that has a separately adjustable back recline and leg section elevation. The patients like this feature, allowing them to sit upright with their legs up. The chair has drop arms for side transfers, it’s easy to clean, its mobile with central locking castors and works well with Sara Stedy – sit to stand aid.

Staff Feedback: The chair is easy to use and adjust, easy to clean which is incredibly important in an ICU setting. The drop-side arms make transferring easy. The wheels and easy braking system are excellent for manoeuvring in a tight space with a patient attached to monitors and equipment. The wheels also allow the chair to follow behind a patient who is beginning to mobilise with the physios but with limited strength and may need to sit down with not much warning.

We received individual patient feedback on the Mauro and its impact on supporting recovery for a Covid patient on non invasive ventilation. The patient requires high levels of O2 and is almost entirely bedbound, any movement can cause extreme drops in his O2 levels:

For one of our Covid patients being able to use one of these chairs made an enormous difference to his recovery progress and sense of wellbeing. Being able to sit up in a comfortable chair made him feel that he was making progress. The fact that he could then recline right back to rest, without having to stand and transfer back to bed meant that he was able to avoid the desaturations that occurred with the exertion of moving. This meant he could gradually spend longer periods sitting upright and then recline and rest or even sleep comfortably in the chair if he wanted to rest during the day. Sitting upright was good for his chest and overall muscle tone.

This helped both his physical and mental recovery. He felt so much better being up knowing he could get comfortable both sitting and reclined. The fact that he had fewer profound desaturations meant that he could begin short breaks off the NIV to eat and drink.

Avoiding such frequent profound desaturations also meant he felt less anxious and could finally feel that he may recover. Mauro has had an enormous effect on his emotional wellbeing.