NEWS COVER STORY Safe, secure furniture for Leeds Academy
Springwell Leeds Academy provides care and education for children and young people with mental health, social, and emotional needs, across three sites in the city of Leeds.
Open-plan design both optimises layout and allows for observation, with benefits such as improved sightlines, a greater sense of space, and opportunities to use the dining area as an activity space outside of mealtimes. Anti-ligature, concealment-free furniture installed by Teal LifeCare promotes a safe, positive, and contemporary environment.
It was critical that the furniture selected was both safe and secure, minimising the risk of tipping and throwing through design and weighting, since spaces where the Academy’s students interact were likely to have higher instances of unrest and conflict. Durable, rotationally-moulded Roku chairs feature throughout. The sealed, six-sided shape makes the Roku difficult to pick up, with no protruding corners or areas for concealment, and it is weighted to 50 kg to limit
misuse, while maximising safety. Constructed from one-piece medium density polyethylene, the design provides excellent impact strength and durability.
Portobello dining tables supplied throughout are large enough to ensure that students do not feel crowded or limited in their personal space. The circular tables also encourage interaction, so are ideal in this space, while larger, double- pedestal Portobellos create a more communal feel within each classroom. With a standard weighting of 135 kg, Portobello is difficult to grasp, manoeuvre, manipulate, or pick up, while the KYDEX top with soft radiused corners for added safety is both easy to wipe clean and scratch and heat-resistant. Teal LifeCare
Branch Rd, Lower Darwen, Lancashire BB3 0PR Tel: 01254 688210 Email:
sales@teal.co.uk www.teal.co.uk
Enhancing life for those with a learning disability
Vodafone Business Ventures and Mencap’s newly launched ‘Connected Living’ scheme aims to use Internet of things (IoT) technology and connectivity to enhance the quality of life for people with a learning disability via ‘bespoke software adapted to meet the unique needs of its users’.
The former said: “This is a ground- breaking project, co-designed by Vodafone and 127 people with learning disabilities using Mencap’s Supported Living services, and a great example of how mobile and digitally enabled technologies can help alleviate the costs of social care, while improving the quality of life of people with learning disabilities.” The Connected Living initiative offers ‘intuitive’ IoT-enabled devices, and a bespoke Vodafone MyLife ‘app’ that ‘increases users’ independence and communication’. Vodafone Business Ventures said: “Although many standalone devices – such as fall detectors, sensors, and GPS trackers – are available, this is a single integrated solution that connects all the sensors via an easy-to-use common interface.”
Connected Living was piloted
successfully over a year in locations across Hampshire, Sussex, Somerset, Cornwall, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Suffolk. IoT-enabled devices were installed in Mencap Supported Living homes controlled by the MyLife app, which offers ‘a simple user interface accessible via a single tablet’. This gives clients control of their smart devices, and support workers, remote access. Features include:
THE NETWORK | OCTOBER 2019 Modified pill and
l My Room – enables residents to manage ‘smart’ plugs, ‘smart’ locks, and ‘smart’ lights, via the app.
l How To – allows residents/support workers to create visual guides for everyday tasks.
l My Day – a personalised diary management tool.
l My Talk – provides those with speech problems with another way to communicate, via personalised images, text, and a speech function.
l Call Support – allows prompt remote support via a digital ‘panic button’ that allows two-way video calling.
l To Do List – enables tenants to create easy-to-manage ‘to do’ lists to encourage them to carry out and ‘tick off’ tasks throughout the day.
l My Front Door – enables residents to answer their front door and check who is calling from anywhere in the house.
Other IoT technologies trialled include activity sensors which detect unexpected movement and alert support workers, and ‘smart’ locks.
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beverage hatch STJ Projects’ stainless steel pill and beverage hatch has been modified to incorporate several new features – ‘the most significant’ being the provision of a shelf when the unit is open that allows medication and drinks to be placed for patients to retrieve, rather than being passed through. The company says this not only protects clinicians and nurses against ‘being seized’, but also enhances patient dignity. The three individual throw bolts on the slam lock function ensure that the hatch securely fastens as soon as the door is closed. A bolt- through design eliminates the need for visible fixings to the patient side. When the hatch door is closed it is finished flush to the unit’s surrounds on both the patient and staff sides. There are thus no ligature points. The hatch can be finished in brushed stainless steel or a powder coating. A further ‘slightly larger’ version, under development, will allow larger items, such as dinner plates, to be passed through.
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