Bed capacity is a challenge faced by healthcare facilities all the time, but particularly at peak times, such as during the winter flu season. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, has shone a glaring spotlight onto this particular issue, all around the world.
Facilities everywhere have responded admirably to the need for huge numbers of extra beds to cope with the predicted peak of coronavirus cases, but this success has come at a cost. Many recuperating patients were discharged or transferred to residential care prematurely, in order to free up hospital beds, and thousands of routine procedures and other treatments were cancelled or postponed.
Of course, in a pandemic situation, staffing issues also inform hospital capacity – but the challenges of Covid-19 have raised some interesting questions around temporary capacity in hospitals that will be relevant both in future emergencies and also during times of peak seasonal demand.
Hospitals and care homes have proven that they can adapt to surges in demand when the right products are available to help them do so – and at Belroc we have been at the forefront of this market in recent weeks. We’ve seen the most unlikely spaces transformed into temporary patient bays offering excellent standards on infection control and patient dignity – our InstaSwap modular curtain & track system and the brand new WatchPod patient monitoring pods have enabled facilities to create vital space without compromising on care. Every winter during the peak of flu season we hear stories about patients waiting in chairs and on floors for a bed – and if one good thing comes out of Covid-19, it’s that we know this no longer has to be the case.
Belroc’s SpeediBed has also given hospitals a reliable option – the ingenuity of Canadian manufacturing has come to the fore in developing a simple yet fully functional hospital bed that can be procured in a fraction of the time of a conventional bed, enabling facilities to respond much more quickly at times of extreme need. Compact and extremely robust, SpeediBed is also easy to store when not in use.
Whilst experts now say that Canada may be over the peak of the pandemic, Covid-19 is not finished with us yet, and it’s highly likely that we will see waves of the disease recurring over the coming months and even years. Coupled with seasonal flu, an ageing population and the probability of further pandemics, it’s clear that hospitals and care homes will need robust strategies for responding to surges in demand for bed space in the immediate and the long-term future.
To find out more about how Belroc can help, email customerservice@belroc.com.
