A Guide to Hospice Seating

Hospices are designed to be places of comfort, so any seating needs to deliver the best comfort and support possible to enhance quality of life.

Due to the variety of patient needs experienced by hospices, it can often be difficult to choose seating that is adaptable to more than one patient. This is especially true if a patient is physically unable to vocalise when they’re uncomfortable.

However, when chairs and seating are chosen correctly, staff can be confident in providing comfort for all their patients.

We’ve supplied thousands of specialist seating solutions to hospices in our time. Based on feedback we got over the years, we even designed our own chair! The Arene Rise & Recline Chair is made to specifically suit the robust needs of hospices.

In this article, we will highlight the key areas of what to look for in hospice seating and how it can enhance the quality of patient care.

1)  CHECK THE FIT

There’s no point investing in a chair that simply does fit the patient’s body shape and type. It would be a bit like buying a pair of shoes that are two sizes too small!

With that in mind, hospices need to choose equipment that can meet the needs of many different users over a significant length of time.

Any good quality rise and recline hospice chair should be available in different sizes and models. For instance, the Arene comes in small, medium, and large sizes, as well as bariatric.

This flexibility will help to keep hospice residents comfortable and supported during their time there.

Blend in with your surroundings

Not only does hospice seating need to fit the needs of the patient, it also needs to fit in with the environment.

Choosing the right items can really help to make your hospice feel homely and supportive to patients, families, and friends.

For example, if you choose all the same armchairs, it might actually make the room look more clinical. There’s no variation and it ends up feeling as though the hospice décor wasn’t thought through.

Combining different kinds of seating but tying them together through colours and fabrics can really help make your hospice feel more united.

The Arene Mk II can easily be customised to suit any existing decor thanks to the wide variety of upholstery and materials. To see how it looks, check out our refurbishment for Accord Hospice!

2)     PRESSURE RELIEF AND POSTIONING OPTIONS

In any hospice environment, you need a chair that can keep someone comfortable in different positions throughout the day.

Rise and recline chairs are ideal for this, as they allow the user to adjust their position to suit their needs.

Pressure Relief

One of the biggest issues that hospices face is the heightened threat of pressure sores, particularly by patients who have either lost weight or are unable to move position.

To help tackle this problem, we would always recommend looking at including tilt-in-space in any hospice seating.

This is a slightly different position which helps to redistribute body weight through a bigger surface area of the chair.

Equipping your seating with these features will help to prevent and relieve problematic pressure ulcers, which can harm quality of care and life.

To learn more about preventing pressure ulcers, check out our ‘What are pressure ulcers and how do we stop them?’ article.

Backrests

For an individual with more complex needs, look at different backrests for the chair.

In hospices, it’s not too uncommon to find patients who have significantly reduced strength in their core. This, in turn, has a significant effect on their posture and comfort when seated.

Choosing a chair that has a more supportive backrest can really help to maintain better posture and positioning when the person spends a long time seated.

A lateral backrest can help with this, with soft cushioning down either side to help guide the user’s spine into a healthier position.

You can find this feature available on the Arene chair, along with a waterfall backrest and a contemporary one.

3)     DURABILITY AND INFECTION PREVENTION

Hospices are demanding, busy, and often quite stressful environments.

It means that durability is an important factor when choosing seating for a hospice, due to the sheer amount of people using the equipment in a short amount of time.

Fortunately, the Arene range has been designed with this in mind, made from strong materials and with sturdy components and materials such as heavy-duty vinyl on arms, and strong-made metal actions.

Infection Prevention

Healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) are a major concern in hospices, so maximising infection prevention is a top priority.

When selecting furniture for a healthcare setting, we always recommend finding something an infection prevention-friendly material/fabric first. Then start thinking about how to fit it in with the room design.

To help you meet those requirements, the Arene rise and recline chair includes a number of infection-prevention features.

For instance, it uses magnets to attach the seat cushions in place, meaning the whole chair can be wiped down and there’s no extra stitching or gaps to harbour bacteria.

Practical doesn’t mean boring though, you can choose from over 12 different vinyl colours!

4)    ADDITIONAL FEATURES TO CONSIDER

For multiuser healthcare facilities like hospices, there are a few additional things to consider when it comes to seating.

These options should help to protect the longevity of the chair and make it easier to use with different patients throughout the hospice.

• Large Castors: Adding castors to a chair immediately makes it much easier to move around. So if you need to use the chair in various locations around your hospice, we strongly recommend it has these fitted.
• Accupak Battery System: This is a common add-on for hospice seating. The Accupak is a rechargeable battery unit, which means the chairs can be used all over whilst charging with no hazardous trailing wires.
• Pressure Relief Gel Cushion: This can be built-in to the seat of the chair to provide an extra layer of pressure relief. This will help to stop pressure from building up in the user’s posterior and sacrum, which often happens as a result of sitting for a long time.
• Sensor Mat: This is a particularly useful feature for hospice chairs — the mat can be fitted into the cushion and will signal to nurses that the patient has stood up. This will help to minimise the risk of falls whilst the user is unattended.

ALWAYS ARRANGE A TRIAL

Before you commit to buying any chair(s) for your hospice, we highly recommend you trial the models you are interested in.

Any quality equipment supplier will be happy to leave their chair with you on trial for a good length of time. There’s nothing better than seeing the chair in action first and judging whether it will fulfil you patients’ needs.

Try to get feedback on the chair from as many people as possible. Nurses, patients, and even patients’ families can give insight as to how the chair has performed and ultimately helped the person using it.

Our Arene range can be booked for free trials at any hospice throughout the UK. For the full specifications, visit the Arene product page.