Deciding which chairs to purchase for your hospital ward can be a big decision. These chairs need to withstand a lot of use and also be able to accommodate the needs of different patients in order to give you the biggest return on investment. We have briefly listed below what we consider to be some of the most important features with the reasons why.
- Seat width and depth adjustment – as we all know, patients come in different sizes and to get the best from your chair you need to be able to adjust it for each patient.
- Tilt-in-Space – effective in relieving pressure by changing the user’s centre of gravity and helping to prevent sliding forward in the chair
- Legrest elevation - used to reduce pressure, reduce swelling and also assist with keeping a user from sliding forward.
- Integral pressure relief – please don’t put a loose pressure relieving cushion on top of the chair cushion – not only is it dangerous but it will mess up your arm height and seat height. Make sure the chair cushion offers pressure relief.
- Is there the ability to provide some kind of lateral support in the backrest - either with chair 'wings', a contoured back or adjustable laterals.
- Footplate - the footplate can be a fundamental part of the chair that can be easily overlooked. Used correctly they provide extra support for the patient's upper legs, helping to reduce the pressure. A footplate also protects the patients feet when the chair is being moved around and provides the patient with sensory assurance.
- Removable covers – we consider this a must! So often we have seen covers torn on ‘fixed cover’ chairs and the only way of repairing is to send them off to be re-upholstered. The cost for this including logistics is often very high and it doesn’t take much for your chairs to be a write off! With our ‘loose cover’ chairs, all cover replacements can be completed on site.
- Ease of maintenance – as with the above make sure that any repair to a chair can be carried out on-site as this will reduce potential repair costs.
- Hoist compatible – is there enough clearance underneath for the hoist, or can the legs fit either side of the chair?