GP Care Systems have been voted ‘Best Hospital Visitor Bed Supplier 2024’ in this year’s SME News UK Enterprise Awards.
With over 42 years’ experience working closely with the NHS, the company claims to be the UK’s longest established designer and supplier of heavy-duty space-saving bed systems, and the ‘go to’ choice for foldaway visitor beds for hospitals and hospices.
The company said: “Compact, ultra-resilient, and really comfortable, GP Care Systems’ high performance Wiskaway Hospital Wallbeds and Glideaway Hospital Guestbeds have set the standard for the industry, enabling a family member, partner, carer, or friend to stay in comfort overnight together with a patient in hospital or hospice, with minimal loss of valuable ward space during the day.”
Typical users include parents on paediatric and neonatal wards, fathers on maternity wards, and partners, carers, and friends on cancer, dementia and other adult wards, as well as on-call medical, theatre, and laboratory staff in rooms which need to have a second day-time function.
GP Care Systems said: “When going into hospital or a hospice, faced with unfamiliar surroundings and sometimes an uncertain outcome, there’s nothing you want more than to be with someone you know and trust, and – thanks to GP Care Systems – this is now a tangible reality. Patients thus no longer need be separated from their loved ones at an anxious time for all concerned, but can enjoy the company and support of a person of their choice, throughout their inpatient treatment. In the morning, the visitors’ beds fold up, or away, to avoid taking up valuable space.”
The company continued: “The benefits of having someone stay with you in hospital are huge – especially for the young and very old. Children are known to recover faster when they have a parent staying with them, who can also entertain, feed, and wash them, leaving the nursing staff to get on with the nursing. Fathers can help their pregnant partners on maternity wards, bond quicker with their offspring, and play a pivotal role in helping to persuade reluctant new mothers to breastfeed their babies. Having a familiar carer stay with them can greatly reduce anxiety, confusion and anger in dementia patients, significantly reducing recovery times and accidents/injuries on the ward.”
GP Care Systems says it ‘pioneered’ the use of wallbeds in hospitals with its high- performance single and double horizontal and vertical ‘Wiskaway’ Wallbeds, which are counterbalanced, and ‘fold away in just seconds, fully made up, into a compact, wipe-clean housing’, for nightly use. This range now includes single and double ‘Neat-a-Ward’ foldaway patient beds. Since their introduction, GP Care Systems says its single and double ‘Glideaway’ Guestbeds have ‘transformed’ the UK hospital / hospice guest bed market.
The company added: “Both the Wiskaway Wallbed and Glideaway Guestbed ranges comply fully with current infection control, health and safety, and manual handling requirements, and have been specifically developed for the hospital / hospice visitor bed market.”
Ease of handling, reduced staff workload and operating costs, and a ‘built-to-last’ design, are all key features, while GP Care Systems says that when costed over their ‘impressively long’ working lives, its beds ‘work out significantly cheaper than their competitors’, and have a ‘minimal’ carbon footprint.
Pictured is a vertical Wiskaway 7500H Wallbed at Manchester Children’s Hospital.