The University Hospitals of Leicester currently manages
approximately 2000 beds. The Manual Handling Service
noted that there were increasing requests for the rental of
equipment for Bariatric patient use. The team identified,
organised, purchased and managed heavy-duty
equipment, improving services to both patients and staff.
A shared computer drive was created so that all current
information regarding the whereabouts of Bariatric
equipment could be quickly and easily identified and the
needs of patients speedily met. The response time for the
provision of equipment to meet patient needs has been
dramatically improved and communication between
different groups involved has also significantly improved.
Between April and September 2007, the Trust saved
£23,898 on equipment rental by having this resource in
house.
Special care was taken in planning and involvement to
address the dignity and privacy issues for Bariatric patients,
and they were consulted in an informal manner on care
issues and to gain their views on equipment, its availability
and appropriateness. There was quite a dearth of
knowledge on Bariatric specific issues, which manifested
itself in a lack of understanding of patients’ needs. The
manual handling team undertook a programme of
teaching, training and communication to overcome this
and the “Procedures for the Safer Handling of the Obese
Patient” is now in its second edition.
By gaining an insight into the problems of Bariatric
management, the team noticed other benefits, such as the
management of material manual handling equipment like
slings and slide sheets. They found that a lot of clinical
areas were losing their stock at the point of laundering, so
by liaising with the Laundry, they were able to reclaim this
equipment, drastically reducing the amount of new
purchasing the Trust had to engage in and ensuring that
patients’ needs could be addressed without delay.
For more information on this project, please contact:
Nicholas.Howlett@uhl-tr.nhs.uk
