Harrogate-based mobility aids and care equipment company, Yorkshire Care Equipment, is launching a new hospital chair designed in conjunction with the Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Victoria Infirmary, a part of Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Designed to be used on almost any type of hospital ward, the ProSpec chair will make it easier for both medical staff and patients to provide quality care. The chair has also been crafted to minimise cross-infection between patients using innovative design.

Padraig Finn, a Band Six Physiotherapist at Yorkshire Care Equipment, said: “The ProSpec hospital chair is probably one of the only chairs in the UK to have been designed for both hospital staff and patients.”

Acknowledging the importance of infection control in all hospital equipment, the team has worked two NHS hospitals to ensure that every surface of the chair was optimised to stay clean between different users. “We’ve also managed to reduce manual handling for staff, whilst improving patient comfort, posture, and pressure care,” added Padraig.

The design of the ProSpec was based on an older chair called the Flo-Tech which was widely used across NHS hospitals but has since been discontinued. The ProSpec takes things one step further with built-in electrically adjustable seat height and depth so you can customise the chair for any patient.

Yorkshire Care has also considered people who struggle to stand up from a seated position and included a vertical rise and forward tilt action as standard. The team has also put a shaped cushion and different positioning options in the chair to reduce the chance of pressure sores.

Tristan Hulbert, Managing Director of Yorkshire Care Equipment, said: “With hospitals caring for some of the most vulnerable people every hour of every day, we needed to make sure that the ProSpec could withstand such a demanding environment.” To this end, the team have tested the chair in different hospitals during our product development to see where it needed improving.

Tristan went on to say that, “overall we are very pleased with the product we’ve created, and we look forward to the ProSpec being used in hospitals all over the country.”

Following the launch of the Lento care chair in 2017, the ProSpec is the second own brand chair from Yorkshire Care Equipment. The company hopes the ProSpec will become the new ‘go-to’ chair for hospitals needing new beside the bed seating.

You can find out more about the ProSpec on the Yorkshire Care website.