Harrogate-based Yorkshire Care Equipment is launching a new hospital chair designed in conjunction with the Aintree University Hospital and the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.
Designed to be used on almost any type of hospital ward, the ProSpec chair will make it easier for medical staff to provide the best quality care, as well as enhancing the environment for patients.
The chair has also been crafted to minimise cross-infection between patients using innovative design.
Yorkshire Care’s band six physiotherapist, Padraig Finn, said: “The ProSpec hospital chair is probably one of the only chairs in the UK to have been designed for both hospital staff and patients.
“We knew that infection control was a big issue, which is why we worked with teams in two NHS hospitals to make sure that every surface of the chair was optimised to stay clean between different users.
“We’ve also managed to reduce manual handling for staff, while improving patient comfort, posture, and pressure care.”
The design of the ProSpec was based on an older chair called the Flo-Tech, which was widely used across NHS hospitals, but has since been discontinued.
The ProSpec takes things one step further with built-in electrically-adjustable seat height and depth so it can be customised for any patient.
Yorkshire Care has also considered people who struggle to stand up from a seated position and has included a vertical rise and forward tilt action as standard.
The team has also put a shaped cushion and different positioning options in the chair to reduce the likelihood of pressure sores.
Tristan Hulbert, managing director of Yorkshire Care Equipment, said: “With hospitals caring for some of the most-vulnerable people every hour of every day, we needed to make sure that the ProSpec could withstand such a demanding environment.
“We trialled the chair in different hospitals during our product development to see where it needed improving.
“Our team is very pleased with the product we’ve created and we look forward to the ProSpec being used in hospitals all over the country.”
Following the launch of the Lento care chair in 2017, the ProSpec is the second own-brand chair from Yorkshire Care Equipment.