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The Simple Solution to a Thousand-Pound Problem: Introducing The Halo™

The Hidden Cost of Care: Why Room Damage is Draining Your Budget

If you manage a care home, you know the daily struggle: beds are constantly on the move, and accidents happen. What seems like a minor knock from a castor, against a skirting board, a wall, or worse, an electrical socket, quickly becomes a major headache.

This isn’t just about wear and tear; it’s a critical financial and operational drain. Those small scuffs and impacts add up, creating a significant and often unpredictable burden on your care home maintenance budget.

At Harvest, we recognise that bed-related damage is one of the most persistent and costly issues in the sector. It’s time to stop paying thousands on repairs and lost revenue.

The Problem: Repair Bills and Decommissioned Rooms

For facilities striving for high occupancy and quality standards, the financial fallout of accidental bed impact is twofold:

1. Soaring Repair Costs: The replacement of scuffed skirting boards, dented walls, or cracked fixtures consumes a large portion of your maintenance budget. Worse still, damaged electrical sockets pose an immediate safety risk, requiring urgent and expensive remediation.
2. Lost Revenue from Decommissioned Rooms: When severe damage occurs, particularly to electrical sockets or fixtures, the room must be decommissioned immediately. Every day that the room is offline for repair represents lost potential revenue. Solving this problem quickly is not just about saving money on a repair bill; it’s about protecting your bottom line.

The Ingenious Answer: Introducing The Halo™

The Halo™ is our response to this persistent industry challenge. This innovative accessory is the smart, simple, and safe solution to bed-related asset protection.

The genius of The Halo™ lies in its simplicity. It’s a discreet, robust ring designed to fit beds with outboard castors measuring 50mm to 100mm. It works as a non-intrusive barrier, instantly shielding your assets from accidental collisions.

The Halo™ Key Benefits for Care Home Operators

Benefit	Impact
Dramatically Reduces Repair Costs	Shields walls, sockets, fixtures, and the bed frame itself from impact, ensuring your maintenance budget goes further.
Safeguards Revenue	Prevents damage that leads to room decommissioning, keeping your potential revenue safe and your rooms profitable.
Simple, Tool-Free Installation	The “click-on” design means any member of your team can install it in seconds, saving valuable time and labour costs.
Visually Discreet Design	Unlike bulky, unattractive solutions, The Halo™ is non-intrusive, helping you maintain the clean, homely aesthetic of your rooms.
Operational Efficiency	Fully compatible with most beds and castors, allowing for normal bed movement and profiling without interference.

The Halo™ ensures your bed protection strategy is cost-effective, discreet, and highly efficient. It’s an intelligent way to manage your asset protection and ensure your focus remains where it should be, on delivering outstanding care.

Protect Your Assets Today

Stop letting accidental knocks chip away at your profits and room availability. Discover why The Halo™ is the ultimate choice for simple, smart, and safe care home asset protection.

Download the Halo™ Leaflet here.

View the Halo™ product page here.

Choosing the Right Pressure Care Solution: Static Mattresses

Pressure ulcers, often known as bedsores, remain a significant concern for individuals with limited mobility or those who spend extended periods in bed. These painful wounds develop when prolonged pressure on the skin restricts blood flow, leading to tissue damage. Selecting the correct pressure care solution is crucial for both preventing new ulcers and managing existing ones. While active mattresses offer dynamic support, static mattresses play a vital role in a comprehensive pressure care strategy.

What is a Static Mattress?

A static mattress is a non-powered pressure redistribution mattress designed to conform to the user’s body shape. Unlike active mattresses that use alternating air cells, static mattresses rely on advanced foam technologies and construction to achieve pressure relief. They work by:

• Immersion: Allowing the body to sink into the mattress, increasing the contact area.
• Envelopment: Conforming closely to the body’s contours, distributing pressure more evenly.

This combination helps to reduce peak pressure points, improve blood flow, and minimise shear and friction forces, all of which are critical in preventing tissue damage.

Key Considerations When Choosing a Static Mattress:

Selecting the right static mattress involves a careful assessment of several factors to ensure optimal comfort and clinical effectiveness:

• Risk Level: The user’s risk level for developing pressure ulcers is paramount. This is typically assessed using a validated risk assessment tool, such as the Waterlow or Braden scale. Static mattresses are generally suitable for individuals at low to very high risk, depending on their specific design and materials.
• User Needs: Consider the individual’s weight, height, mobility, and any existing medical conditions. A mattress must be able to support the user’s weight effectively without bottoming out.

Mattress Features:

• Material Composition: Look for high-quality foams (e.g., viscoelastic, high-resilience) that offer excellent pressure redistribution properties.
• Zoning: Some mattresses feature different foam densities or cuts in specific areas to provide targeted pressure relief for vulnerable body parts.
• Cover Properties: A multi-stretch, vapour-permeable, and water-resistant cover is essential for skin integrity, hygiene, and durability.
• Stability: Ensure the mattress provides good stability for patient transfers and repositioning.
• Profiling Compatibility: The mattress must be compatible with profiling beds to ensure it articulates correctly without compromising its pressure-relieving properties.

Recommended Static Mattresses from Harvest:

Harvest offers a range of high-quality static mattresses, each designed to meet diverse pressure care needs and provide exceptional comfort:

Visco MultiZone Mattress: Our enhanced static mattress, the Visco MultiZone, features specialist foam “zones” strategically positioned across key areas of the mattress. This varying firmness allows for greater immersion and envelopment around the most vulnerable parts of the body, leading to superior pressure redistribution. It provides additional support where needed most, often reducing the need for dynamic mattresses. Proudly made in the UK and assembled by Harvest, it’s lighter than previous models and includes complete corners to minimise entrapment risks.

Discover the Visco MultiZone Mattress here

Prime Comfort Plus Static Mattress: The Prime Comfort Plus is an excellent static mattress known for providing great patient comfort and excellent pressure redistribution. Its clever side wall construction encases the foam, enhancing stability for the patient and assisting in transfers. A castellated foam top allows excess heat to escape, preventing overheating. Keyhole slots in the high-density base aid profiling, ensuring seamless integration with profiling beds.

Explore the Prime Comfort Plus Static Mattress here

Community Plus Static Mattress: The Community Plus Static Mattress is a highly versatile and cost-effective solution, suitable for patients at medium to high risk of developing pressure ulcers. Built with high-resilience CMHR foam, it offers excellent pressure distribution and comfort. Supplied with a four-way stretch, vapour-permeable, water-resistant PU cover, it’s designed for durability and easy cleaning. Its ability to be turned extends its service life, providing long-term value.

Learn more about the Community Plus Static Mattress here

Why Choose Harvest?

When you choose Harvest, you’re partnering with a provider committed to excellence in pressure care:

• Reliable and Durable Products: Our mattresses are built to last, providing consistent performance and peace of mind.
• Comprehensive Warranty: All our static mattresses come with a robust warranty for added reassurance.
• Cost-Effective Solutions: We offer a range of pressure care solutions designed to fit various budgets without compromising on quality.
• Servicing and Repair: Our dedicated service team provides prompt and reliable support, ensuring your mattresses remain in optimal condition.
• Mattress Management Programme: Our comprehensive programme offers a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to mattress replacement, with repair, cleaning, and decontamination services.
• Training and Support: We provide comprehensive training and support to ensure your staff can effectively use and maintain our pressure care solutions.

Choosing the right static mattress is a critical decision for a user’s well-being and overall care quality. Contact Harvest today to discuss your pressure care needs and find the best solution for your users.

Harvest Healthcare is delighted to announce an extended warranty on its popular Woburn and Cadence ranges of beds. This enhancement underscores the company’s commitment to providing reliable, high-quality solutions and offering customers even greater peace of mind.

The extended warranty now includes a 7-year guarantee on bed frames and a 5-year guarantee on woodwork and electrical components for both the established Woburn range and the premium Cadence line. This extension is effective from the original date of purchase, reinforcing Harvest Healthcare’s confidence in the durability and performance of their products.

The Woburn range has long been a trusted choice for clinical and operational teams nationwide, known for its reliability, ease of use, and robust design. Similarly, the Cadence bed range caters to more discerning environments, blending sophisticated aesthetics with exceptional functionality. This extended warranty reflects the consistent feedback from healthcare partners regarding the minimal service issues and high durability of both bed ranges.

What This Means for Customers:

• Enhanced Peace of Mind: Reduce potential downtime and minimise disruptions to essential patient care.
• Long-Term Value: Benefit from the proven durability of Harvest Healthcare beds, contributing to a lower total cost of ownership.
• Reinforced Trust: This extended warranty backs years of reliable, real-world performance and the company’s dedication to its partnerships within the healthcare sector.

“We are incredibly proud of the quality and reliability of our Woburn and Cadence bed ranges,” said James Hunt, Senior Marketing & Communications Executive. “This extended warranty is a direct reflection of the confidence we have in our products and our ongoing commitment to supporting our customers with dependable solutions.”

Customers seeking further information about the extended warranty or the Woburn and Cadence bed ranges are encouraged to visit the Harvest Healthcare website or contact the sales team directly.

Sarah Champion MP has lent her support to the local health and social care sector following a visit to Rotherham-based medical equipment supplier, Harvest Healthcare. The visit provided an opportunity to highlight the urgent pressures facing suppliers of critical medical equipment amid a national crisis in community care funding and delivery.

The visit took place at Harvest’s headquarters, where the Labour MP for Rotherham was given an in-depth tour of the supplier and manufacturer’s premises, including an overview of its range of medical beds, pressure care products and industry-leading decontamination facilities for active mattresses. During the visit, Harvest emphasised the increasing strain faced by suppliers and local authorities alike due to a lack of adequate government funding.

Sarah Champion MP, a longstanding advocate for health and social care services, was briefed on the growing crisis in Community Equipment Services (CES) — services that sit at the heart of safe hospital discharge and care at home, yet remain significantly under-resourced. The discussion covered the far-reaching impact of budget constraints on local authorities and the knock-on effects on the sustainability of vital equipment supply chains.

Harvest also highlighted how broader cost pressures, including rising Employer National Insurance Contributions and the increase to the National Living Wage, have exacerbated the situation for the sector. These financial strains have resulted in both suppliers and customers freezing recruitment, ultimately leading to a direct impact on timely patient care and increased pressures on the NHS.

Sarah Champion MP, MP for Rotherham, said:

“The work being done by Harvest and the wider community equipment sector is absolutely vital for the health and wellbeing of some of our most vulnerable residents. I was deeply concerned to hear just how close to breaking point many community services are due to funding pressures and rising costs. These issues urgently need national attention if we are to deliver safe, timely, and dignified care in people’s homes.”

Mike Burns, Managing Director of Harvest Healthcare, said:

“We are proud to support Long term Care facilities, the NHS and local community services through innovative, durable, and cost-effective equipment. But we’re at a critical juncture where insufficient investment and funding for local authority and community equipment services is putting quality patient care at risk. This impacts all of us and our families. It’s incredibly reassuring to see Sarah Champion take the time to hear directly from our sector, and we hope today’s visit will help motivate wider action to safeguard community care services.”

As a member of the British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA), Harvest Healthcare are signed up to the association’s code of practice setting best practice and responsibility standards for medical equipment and service providers. The BHTA are currently supporting their members involved in community care services – such as Harvest – by raising attention to the so-called ‘CES crisis’ resulting in shortages in vital medical equipment in community care settings and exacerbating hospital discharge delays. The BHTA are calling for urgent support for this vital cornerstone of the wider social care system, that supports over 4 million patients annually at no additional cost to the NHS.

David Stockdale, Chief Executive Officer of the British Healthcare Trades Association, said:

“Our members operating in this sector are under more strain than ever before, and this is having a direct impact on the quality of care people receive. Visits like this are crucial. They allow MPs to hear directly from those keeping the system going despite huge pressures. The concerns raised today highlight currently extreme pressures on the wider industry, caused by a concoction of regulatory and financial changes and inefficiencies impacting critical medical supply chains and, ultimately, patients who rely on these vital pieces of equipment to live healthily and independently.”

ENDS.