WHAT’S NEW? MEDEQUIP TURNS TRAINING


INTO ACTION AT COVID-19 UNITS Across the country, it's a growing challenge for companies to make vital deliveries and install equipment to help reduce the load on hospitals and critical care facilities. When Gallions View Care home in Greenwich was being set up as a specialist centre for COVID-19 patients to ease the burden on the local hospital and other care facilities, the local Medequip team based at Woolwich was tasked with installing beds and associated items to equip 30 care rooms.


Medequip Centre of Excellence trainer Paul Cockburn proposed a novel solution. "With 10 trainees on my cohort at our training centre in Woolwich, it seemed like an excellent idea to put their studies and knowledge to good use in support of our team on the ground," said Paul. "Following discussions


and planning with our local operational team, it was decided to mobilise our newest technicians to complete the work."


The equipment was delivered in to the care home, some of it directly from suppliers and some from Medequip's Woolwich depot. At 9am on 7 April, the team of trainees began work; no special PPE was needed as the facility was empty, awaiting its first patients. By lunchtime they had successfully installed a total of 30 Accora floor beds (low level profiling beds) and mattresses, commodes, overbed tables and high back chairs as well as two mobile hoists and two floor standing hoists, and the rooms were ready to admit their first patients.


Following the success of this initiative, the team of trainees has been in action again, this time at Time Court in Charlton, a care unit with COVID-19 patients already on the wards. Here, Medequip took extra care with government-approved PPE, maintaining strict distancing from patients and staff. Within an hour-and-a-half four beds had been installed complete with siderails, mattresses and two hoists, all ready for use with minimal disruption to the work on the unit.


A spokesperson from the unit commented:


"Medequip arrived in force to deliver the beds. Very professional, like a military operation; they were briefed outside and came in two by two, directed to the individual rooms, all went like clockwork."


Image taken at the start of the trainees' education programme before the implementation of social distancing.


Medequip's MD David Griffiths commented: "At Medequip, we're very proud of our teams around the country who are handling an increased workload to ensure vulnerable people continue to get the support they need and to help with hospital discharges. "This is a great example of the Medequip team at its very best, working together for the good of our service users, using ingenuity and expertise to make sure we can match the new challenges we are currently facing on a daily basis."


www.medequip-uk.com


VR EXPERIENCE FOR RESIDENTS Elderly residents at Oake Meadows Care Home in Taunton have been treated to a virtual reality extravaganza, taking turns to experience the latest high-tech gadgets.


Manager Katrina Ball commented: “While our home is temporarily closed to all visitors, we’re pulling out all the stops to ensure our residents continue to experience new things, make new memories and live their lives to the full.


“We thought a taste of virtual reality, keeping them in touch with the latest gadgets, would be a wonderful experience, allowing them to see and feel things they never imagined they would be able to.”


Michael Rourke, 87, was particularly enthralled by the spectacle provided by the fully immersive headsets. He said: “It’s almost like I’m an astronaut. The space clouds are right here in front of me.


- 4 - www.tomorrowscare.co.uk


Residents have also enjoyed receiving pictures and messages from local school children who have been sending them into the home since local schools were closed.


www.larchwoodcare.co.uk


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