New Intensive Care beds make a world of difference

The Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Berkshire Hospital have welcomed the delivery of sixteen new high-tech beds and mattresses which improve the patient experience and help staff provide day to day patient care. The new beds also meant they became the first Trust in England to use the smart mattress technology when x-raying ICU patients.

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

The sixteen beds and mattresses, a £250,000 long-term investment, were part of a project which began in 2020 just before Covid. The beds are now up and running in ICU and are making a huge difference already.

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.’ 

Janet Lippett, Acting Chief Executive said, ‘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.’