Harvest Healthcare

Equipped to care

Harvest Healthcare

 News

Coronavirus Update

Here at Harvest Healthcare we are continuing to take all measures to support our customers, whilst also protecting our customers, staff, other stakeholders and suppliers.

We are working safely and in a sustainable fashion which we can continue with for the long term if necessary. We are managing our supply chain, continuing to meet the demand for our products and supplying to all our customers.  With the exception of our coronavirus measures, we are running business as usual.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please contact us directly.

E-training and Product Videos; Covid-19 Safe Support

Here at Harvest, our knowledgeable product and business development teams are working hard to implement new ways of offering support and services to our valued customers through these unprecedented times.

As part of this we have converted our boardroom to facilitate online product training, demonstrations and other product support.  We can now use e-conferencing to provide a wide range of support and services for your teams, tailored to meet your needs.

We have also started to produce more product installation and demonstration videos which will be online and accessible soon.

We understand the multiple challenges you face and strive, as always, to help you solve these challenges and make your life a little easier.

Please get in touch with your sales representative to see how we can help you.

Bed Rail Regulations: Your Guide

Did you know that there are side rail regulations put in place by the government and checked by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in order to prevent entrapment? These rail regulations have to be adhered to by all care providers, which can be difficult, especially in homes with a range of bed and mattress types.
What do the Regulations Say?
Side Rail Regulations 60601/2/52 state that the height of the top edge of the side rail must be more than 220mm above the non- compressed mattress.
This means that when a mattress is placed on the bed platform the top of the mattress must be at least 220mm from the top of the side rails, as illustrated in the image below:

The regulations also state that the gap between side rails must be smaller than 120mm. Shown in the image below:

How is Compliance Tested?
The distance between the top of the mattress and the top of the side rail is measured by care providers – see below our handy tool to help – and the gap between the side rails is tested by manufacturers using a Cone Tool.

The Cone Tool is 120mm in diameter at its widest and 60mm at its smallest. The 60mm end of this tool is placed between the side rails at the weakest point and 250N of force is applied. If the 120mm part of the cone does not pass through the side rails, then they pass the compliance test. The Cone Test is shown below.

How Can Harvest Healthcare Help?

  • All Harvest Healthcare’s standard beds are side rail compliant.
  • All Harvest Healthcare’s mattresses can be placed on any Harvest Healthcare Woburn bed and be compliant.
  • We offer easy to assemble rail sections.
  • Part of our servicing package includes Bed Inspections where side rails are checked for compliance.
  • We offer simple to use bed rail height measurement tools, shown below, so that you can quickly and easily check if you are compliant. If you would like to be sent copies of these testers, please get in touch.

Our aim is to solve your problems to ensure that you can offer excellent care and remain complaint all at a reduced cost.
If you would like more information on how we can help you then please contact us.

Coronavirus Update

As a key business for the healthcare supply chain we are taking all possible measures to maintain our operations and support our customers, whilst also protecting our customers, staff, other stakeholders and suppliers.
In light of the latest government advice we are:

  • Asking all our colleagues who can to work from home. We will remain open and operational during this time but ask for patience and understanding as we adapt to this new way of working.
  • Continuing to run health check for all our field-based staff regularly. Any staff with the flu-like symptoms will be asked to self-isolate following the government advice.
  • Totally suspending any unnecessary travel, excluding deliveries and engineer visits which will be arranged in partnership with the care home or facility the engineer is visiting.
  • Maintaining regular contact with suppliers to facilitate as much continuity of supply as we can maintain. We are assured by the authorities that there is no health risk from imported goods due to the nature of transmission of the virus.

We are closely monitoring updates regarding the virus and will keep in line with any change in government advice.

Top Tips for a Safe and Effective Engineer Visit

Harvest Healthcare recognises that both essential testing such as LOLERs and equipment repairs must continue in order to protect vulnerable residents.

To make sure that this essential work can continue as safely and seamlessly as possible, please see these top tips for a Harvest Healthcare engineer visit.

Top Tips:

  • If the equipment to be looked at can be moved out of bedrooms/bathrooms/communal spaces please do this in advance of our engineer arriving.
  • Our engineer will wipe down any equipment they touch with disinfection wipes after they are finished. Despite this, we recommend following your own in-house disinfection protocols as a secondary measure.
  • Our engineer will thoroughly wash their hands following strict washing protocols between homes and will always wear gloves during site visits. Please follow social distancing measures as much as possible while our engineers are on site to support these risk reduction measures.
  • If equipment can be serviced/repaired outside the building our engineers are happy to do this. Please place the equipment on a secure, flat, dry surface to maintain engineer safety and decontaminate any equipment before taking it outside.
  • If you have any concerns about the risks posed by a site visit, please contact Harvest Healthcare in advance of your scheduled visit to discuss the safest arrangement to protect staff and residents. We are happy to support the needs of individual homes in order to undertake essential work.