Improving patient care
Injuries associated with transferring patients between wheelchairs and beds cost the European healthcare
industry an estimated £20 billion a year. A European consortium including the UK Health and Environment
Research Institute has developed a radical solution to the problem.
The problems of safely moving
people with limited mobility and
preventing the sores and ulcers
which can result from lying or sitting
in one position for long periods are
major concerns for the care industry,
and sources of great psychological
stress for care professionals. The
Ergosystem project has looked
carefully at both issues to create a
novel ergonomically designed
patient management system.
The consortium, led by Cranfield
Solutions Ltd and including partners
from Germany, Poland and France,
has been working over the past two
years to create and test a unique
actuator and patient management
system in this EU co-funded
Framework Programme 6
research project.
- Dr Nigel Lambert