Hospital bed gets a makeover

A new design of hospital bed is using extruded polypropylene plastic base panels, bedheads and bottom boards in place of the more traditional steel and wood. This has given the bed designers more creative freedom in the design of the bed panels and has resulted in a much lighter bed. The new design is largely impervious to water and cleaning fluids, meeting the medical industry's stringent infection control regulations. And the panels can even be dismantled and recycled at the end of their useful life and re-used in less demanding applications. The design team at Halifax-based healthcare manufacturer, Sidhil, used the new plastic material, VTS Plastech from Vita Thermoplastic Sheet, to create a new design of hospital bed. Barkston Plastics also worked closely with Sidhil and Vita to machine and fabricate the material to produce the components for assembly into the new bed design. "Initial trials have proved to be very positive," commented Tim Wright, Sidhil's product development manager.