NHS trust welcomes delivery of high-tech beds and mattresses that improve patient experience

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the NHS Royal Berkshire Hospital has welcomed the delivery of 16 new high-tech beds and mattresses, which improve the patient experience and help staff provide better day-to-day patient care.

The beds provide pressure relief for patients; support with patient rehabilitation; and do half of the lifting work for staff when they have to move patients, reducing the likelihood of staff injuries.

NHS Royal Berkshire Hospital is also the first trust in England to use the smart mattress technology when x-raying ICU patients.

The beds can tilt from side to side, which means that when staff need to move patients out of the bed, the bed does half of the lifting work for them. As the mattress is made of a lot of individual air pockets that can be individually inflated and deflated, staff can also let the technology do the work of providing relief to pressure points.

Rachel Crisford, Lead ICU Nurse, said: “We’ve had incredible feedback from patients telling us they find the beds extremely comfortable and have commented on how it has helped with their rehabilitation. And staff love the tilt on the bed that allows them to move patients more easily – it means the bed takes the strain, not their shoulders and backs.

“I’m also really proud that we were the first Intensive Care Unit in England to use the x-ray sleeve technology in the mattress. It allows us to slide the x-ray plate under the patient rather than having to sit them up and lift them forward for it to be slid in behind them.

“For patients in ICU, who are often physically fragile or on a ventilator, each movement involves managing their heart rate and breathing. So anything we can do to make that as predictable as possible improves the care we can give them. These new beds are a great example of that. And on top of that we are also able to weigh patients in bed now which is critical in ICU to manage nutrition as well as medication.”

A £250,000 long-term investment, the 16 beds and mattresses were part of a project that began in 2020 just before covid. The beds are now up and running in ICU and are making a “huge difference” already.

Janet Lippett, Acting Chief Executive at the trust, added: “This is another great example of the investment we put into ensuring outstanding patient care. Patients are already seeing and telling us about how they are helping them – for example, that they tilt to make it easier for them to stand up. The beds will also help our ICU staff directly too, by making it easier them to care for some of our sickest patients.”

NHS England recently issued guidance to integrated care boards (ICBs) about how to use the £200 million discharge funding that was announced on 9 January 2023. Read the guidance here.