How new innovations can enhance bariatric healthcare

According to the latest figures published by NHS Digital, around two-thirds of the English population aged 16 or over are overweight or obese. As a result, hospitals and other care environments are facing increasing pressure to ensure they have the right equipment provision to cater for bariatric care needs.

This blog looks at the impact of obesity on the healthcare sector, discussing what plus-sized patients require in terms of equipment provision and how new innovations can help alleviate the pressures that care environments face.

Impact of obesity on healthcare sector

Recorded in 2019, the Health Survey for England (HSE) monitors trends in the nation’s health and care. From its latest report, it revealed a worrying statistic that two-thirds of all adults in the UK are overweight or obese.

In fact, there were more than one million admissions to NHS hospitals in 2019/20 where obesity was a factor, causing increasing strain on their capacity to meet people’s needs.

As one of the most pressing public health challenges in the UK, the obesity crisis has been further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting the high risk of serious illness and death that those with obesity face.

Now, more than ever, there needs to be a tighter focus on providing suitable care and supervision of plus-sized individuals.

Improving bariatric care provision in the UK

To meet the increasing number of bariatric patients, it is vital that care environments can provide the right levels of comfort and support. Bariatric patients require adapted healthcare equipment, including changes to weight capacities, heavy duty supports and wider widths to minimise risk of injury and safeguard their dignity.

In order to protect staff and care workers from strain or injury when providing care for a bariatric patient, the equipment also needs to have a number of automated features, removing the need to physically move an individual.

However, there are also other considerations that need to be taken into account to ensure care environments have the correct care provisions in place. We have picked out three key areas where having the correct equipment provision can improve bariatric care outcomes:

• Promoting independence

If the patient or resident has limited mobility in any way, shape or form, a care environment needs to have equipment that enables the individual to maintain and hopefully increase their ability to move. For instance, bariatric care beds often tend to be lower in height due to the fact that plus-sized patients usually have extra flesh on the underside of their thighs, requiring a lower mattress platform for comfort. This makes it easier for the individual to climb on and off the bed and it’s closer to the floor.

• Smooth operation

When a plus-sized patient is being cared for with a piece of equipment, they want it to be as quiet and comfortable as possible. As the individual may be sensitive about their weight, they don’t want to feel like the equipment is under any strain when in use. For example, a overhead hoist system should be structurally sound to lift bariatric weights. This means installing the track fixings closer together for extra sturdiness and strength to ensure a smoother patient transfer.

• Easy to use

Any piece of bariatric equipment should be easy to use for staff when caring for patients and residents. As an example, whether it’s by a mobile hoist or double gantry system, the lower platform gives carers more room to play with above the patient to ensure that they are being hoisted correctly. Additionally, bariatric beds should have a good amount of space beneath them to allow for mobile hoists to slot into position.

New innovations for bariatric equipment

Caring for bariatric patients places considerable pressure on available resources in care environments, often requiring the help of additional staff to ensure care tasks are completed. However, without the appropriate equipment, this can place caregivers and patients at increased risk of injury as well as having a detrimental impact on recovery.

By embracing the considerations listed above, this risk can be removed through new innovations in bariatric care equipment. Future HealthSpaces partner, Innova Care Concepts, are one of those organisations who are helping the care sector with their Interlude 500 bariatric bed.

When it comes to bariatric equipment, ease of use and smoothness are vital for both the patient and caregiver. As the only bariatric bed that can drop to 21cm/8 inches off the ground, the Interlude 500’s extra low patient positioning significantly reduces the risk of injuries caused by falling out of the bed.

This feature also makes it easier for plus-sized patients to enter and exit the bed, improving their autonomy. The bed also features a safe working load of 500kg/78st and a patient limit of up to 460kg/72st, with large anti-static castors making it easy to move from ward to ward and/or theatre.

Summary

Innovations like the Interlude 500 are essential for care environments to handle the growing number of bariatric patients likely to be admitted. Not only can they make a huge difference to carers and end users, they also provide care environments flexibility, as they can be adapted for standard or bariatric use, saving time and money as well as never being out of use.

By embracing key considerations of promoting independence and ease of use for caregivers, care environments can make huge strides to improve bariatric care outcomes. These changes are already being embraced by new hospitals such as the new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, where in a previous Future Healthspaces blog, we looked at how they have included new hoisting innovations to meet different patient requirements.