MartinCook
Professional Comment

Why Do Mattress Rental And Maintenance Services Make Increasing Sense For Care Homes?

MartinCook
Martin Cook, Service Manager at Spearhead Healthcare

At the same time as nursing and care homes face ever-increasing financial pressure and demand for beds, they are also under growing scrutiny in terms of the quality of care they provide.

One of today’s biggest questions then, is how to maintain the highest possible standards of care while keeping costs down. Ensuring the right equipment, including the bed itself, is on hand for each new patient as they come into your facility is a must but with today’s top-end mattress systems often priced well into the thousands, purchasing enough to ensure requirements are always met can be a huge drain on capital budgets. The deep cleaning and maintenance required to then keep them in service adds to the expense.

One option that can reduce this squeeze is to use mattress rental and maintenance services instead of buying equipment outright. As well as exchanging capital expenditure for more manageable monthly payments, it’s a solution that eases the challenge of space limitations, and the costs and practicalities of cleaning and repairs: all of which can place a huge burden on the already over-stretched care home.

Timely, flexible & cost effective

With a rental service, the right mattresses can be with you within 24 hours, and paid for only as long as required. This is particularly useful in cases where the need may be temporary such as in palliative or short-term care, and where there are special requirements, such as pressure sore management, bariatric care needs, or fall prevention.

Additionally, a comprehensive rental and maintenance service will also help to keep mattresses in top condition, while ensuring that replacements are immediately to hand when repairs or cleaning are needed. Having these resources in-house can strain the budget when mattress systems are so costly, and commercial washing machines along with certified cleaning processes are needed for the level of deep clean required to kill bacterium and prevent cross-contamination.

Certainly care and nursing homes are increasingly seeing the benefits of using mattress rental and maintenance services. But while many providers may provide a range of special purpose mattresses, there are a number of questions to ask to ensure you pick one that’s equipped to meet your key requirements.

Rental & maintenance service checklist

Firstly, to avoid any delays when new or replacement mattresses are needed, look for a 24/7 service with UK-wide coverage, that responds fast to breakdowns and promises free loans during repairs.

To avoid cross-contamination, servicing and repairs must also be carried out in a hygiene controlled environment, and cleaned using a specialist certified decontamination system, such as OTEX, to approved standards. Check too that mattresses are returned in fully certified working order, having been PAT tested, as well as cycle tested, and checked for static pressure leaks, and that the service provides transparent reporting of results with all work carried out by trained technicians.

A good rental and maintenance service that ticks this list will undoubtedly help to reduce the pressure on finances in the long term, while supporting the provision of excellent patient care. And in today’s continually expanding care sector, maintaining top-notch standards in all areas while reducing financial outlay are certainly key requisites for ongoing care home success.

https://www.spearheadhealthcare.com/Pages/Our-Services