DiMH 2021 AWARDS Product Innovation of the Year Award


Wallgate’s e-Suite range is claimed to ‘mark a revolutionary development in dementia care for traditional-looking sanitaryware’.


personal tributes to her – will present her with a trophy in appreciation of her work. Thank you, Jenny, for everything you have done, and we hope you enjoy the video.”


Thanks from the Chair Emeritus After receiving her trophy, Jenny Gill thanked the exhibitors and ‘all the people who work so hard to make the environment better for mental health service-users’. James Lee of Step Exhibitions, who has led the organisation of the Design in Mental Health event for the past few years, was then thanked for his contribution by Philip Ross, who presented him with a certificate of appreciation.


The awards ceremony


Andy Powell then got the main awards presentation underway, firstly thanking all the judges and sponsors for their ‘time, effort, and expertise’.


Product Innovation of the Year The first award, for Product Innovation of the Year, went to Wallgate, for its e-Suite range of taps, WC flushing, shower activation, and temperature controls, which it claims ‘mark a revolutionary development in dementia care for traditional-looking sanitaryware’.


The company explained: “While day-to-day tasks as simple as handwashing can be a challenge for someone living with dementia, the e-Suite enables patients to use sanitaryware unaided. Within the crosshead tap design, meanwhile, lies innovative water management technology, developed to assist the care regime, and, as well as being easy to use, the range aids independence and normalises living, while reducing reliance on the caregiver.” Wallgate says ‘research shows familiarity is instrumental to usability for those with impaired memory or cognitive ability’, explaining that ‘behind its traditional aesthetic’, the e-Suite also provides electronically managed proportional water control, with the added 'ready-state' function automatically turning off taps and showers that have been left running, but leaving them ready to use again from any position.


Collaboration with healthcare specialists The range was developed through collaboration with healthcare specialists, HammondCare, and the University of Stirling’s Dementia Services Development Centre. A data logging facility allows care providers to access usage data ‘for unique


insights into patient behaviour that directly affect the management of their care’. The award was presented to Wallgate’s Sales director, Rob Kimber (see above), by the DiMHN’s Philip Ross and Jonathan Campbell.


‘Less cumbersome’ single window handle


Britplas was Highly Commended for its Safevent Multask handle. Its entry said: “When we invented the window which is now the industry benchmark for mental health facilities, we used a separate winding anti-ligature handle to operate the opener, a staff lock, and a user lock. Feedback noted a preference for a single, less cumbersome, and more aesthetically pleasing mechanism, that provided service-users with the facility to operate the window, a patient lock, and staff with an override lock. We thus created a single anti-ligature handle that could incorporate all these operational requirements, while offering an opening width from 1 mm to fully open. The patented Multask handle is a real step forward for service-user control over their own environment. The design also allows retrofitting onto existing Safevent windows.”


Guests at the awards enjoy pre-ceremony drinks and chance to catch up. 16


Estates & Facilities Team of the Year Award Sponsored by Troup Bywaters + Anders, the Estates & Facilities Team of the Year Award went to the Capital, Estates and Facilities (CEF) team at Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) NHS Foundation Trust. The entry explained that its work ‘revolves around six key themes’. Highlights within each include: l Employment: Within the Estates and Facilities Business Plan there is ‘a clear objective to implement a service-user to employee scheme’. The CEF team Workforce Plan thus affords employment opportunities for service- users; the team also engages with unions and the Department of Work & Pensions to provide placements to help service-users gain work experience.


OCTOBER 2021 | THE NETWORK


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