EBME Forums Forums Management Medical Equipment Management top covers of mattresses

Hi All,

Has anyone ever looked into or found anywhere/anyone who can replicate replacement covers for pressure mattresses? I know its a long shot but the prices for a replacement top cover of a common type of hospital mattress (not naming any names!) are hideous.

Any pointers would be appreciated.
Thanks,

Nimbus 3 - a good product, let down by the cost of spare parts and by customer services .. in my opinion. Nimbus 3 is a planet, isn't it?

Sorry, no, I can't think of any alternative suppliers for top covers.

Cheers
Mark

Hi Mark,
Thanks for the reply.

Yes i must agree about the Nimbus 3, excellent piece of kit but let down by the cost of replacement parts. I have just had to order nearly 3K's worth of parts to get 4 of a customers nimbus 3's back into service.

Think i might have a look further into getting a supplier for replica covers, although i fear they might b a lot of red tape & origonal manafacturer's protesting the matter.

cheers,

Although we do not have them (yet?) we have looked at the Sidhil range of pressure relieving mattresses. The tissue viability team like the mattresses and we like the cost so a definite contender for any future purchase. I do not know if you can put one of their covers over a Nimbus 3 but it might be worth investigating as they are a fraction of the Nimbus price.
We are considering a rolling replacement of our current fleet as the low purchase cost of a new Sidhil mattress and subsequent spare parts far outweighs the cost of keep buying Nimbus and Pegasus spares.
RoJo

Hi Rojo,

I'm familiar with the sidhil range of mattresses too, unfortunately they do not fit the nimbus 3, nor do anything else for that matter. I'm not so keen of sidhil's stuff...but as your slogan says 'be careful what you say publicly'.

Cheers,

Yes, it's noticeable that the pressure relieving (presumably) mattress scene has become such a Big Business over the last decade or so.

I can remember the days when hospitals had one or two at most.

The same can be said of patient lifting devices.

I wonder what the next Big Thing is going to be?

The next big thing is the patients - by the amount of bariatric equipment we are buying.
RoJo

It's all part of the Great Social Experiment, Robert.

All those £££ Billions chucked at the National Health Service ... and what is the state of the Nation's Health? Probably worse than at the end of World War Two would be my guess.

"Quality of Life"? Yeah, sure.

Many (most, all) of this country's ills could be put to rights almost overnight if only the political will was there. But it isn't, and probably never will be. Not in my lifetime, at least.

Evening Geoff,

Yes as you say, big business!

There's alot of companies out there at the moment having a stab at the pressure mattress industry....and failing miserably!

I've had lots of mattresses in for repair from various companies and i cannot belive that the build quality passes any uk standards. Many of these companies (this is why i don't call them manafacturers) have pressure systems mass produced & imported from mainly China. Recently i was inspecting a pump from one of these imported systems and found the live wire to be BLUE & the earth wire to be RED!!
I could go all day on these faults..... If i ever have to use one of these systems, i will take the option the lay on a concrete floor, as i would be more likely to recieve pressure relief from their!!

Although Huntleigh/arjo are expensive they are truly the masters of pressure relieving equipment, so my advice to anyone shopping around would be stick with who knows best (but that is of course just my opinion).

Cheers,

Just as long as they are C.E. marked (that's the main thing)!

I couldn't see much wrong with the good old Talley Ripple Pump, myself.

To be honest, I don't really understand why all these pressure relieving mattresses are needed. Surely very few patients are truly bed-bound in the long term these days?

OK, let me guess. Our modern nurses are "not allowed" to turn patients in case they hurt themselves ... patients are too heavy ... etc., etc. What many of these "ill" people really need (in my opinion) is a bit of simple exercise. They could try walking, for starters. There you are:- 50% of the problems dealt with right there!