What Does Moving Equipment Include in Health And Social Care?

An ideal health and social care setting will have all the necessary moving equipment. Otherwise, they won’t be able to provide services at best. There are several types of equipment used. Each is assigned to perform a particular task. So, what does moving equipment include in health and social care?

Among many health and social care moving equipment, there are several that are most popularly used. For example, hoists, slings, wheelchairs, transfer boards, lifts, walking aids, and stand aids. Most of these helping devices are specially designed for the elderly and people with mobility issues.

This blog post will discuss equipment used in health and social care. You’ll also learn about policies, legislation, and some bonus safety tips using moving equipment. Let’s keep reading.

What is moving and handling in health and social care?

In health and social care, helping someone move, lift, and support using muscular force is known as manual handling. This term is also referred to as moving and handling.

The purpose of this is to relocate a person having mobility issues. Manual handling involves assisting a person with moving from bed, walking, bathing, showering, toileting, and sitting.

It becomes hard for the elderly or disabled to perform their daily tasks. Without maintaining a proper procedure, moving from one place to another would pose a risk of injuries. Here comes the manual handling concept.

Healthcare facilities recruit trained staff to help with this. These staff mostly perform moving an individual with the help of various types of equipment. With the help of equipment, moving and handling patients also becomes convenient for family members.

There are various types of manual handling equipment designed specifically to aid in different tasks.

But before jumping into moving and handling equipment, let’s first learn basic principles, policies, and legislation regarding manual handling.

Principles of safe moving and handling in health and social care

Performing a safe moving is a must. For that, the person helping has to be mentally and physically prepared.

One should only go for it if they know how to conduct certain moving and handling tasks. Suppose you are shifting an individual from bed to wheelchair but don’t know the right technique. In this case, the best thing would be to transfer the task to an adept hand.

So before you go for using moving equipment, you must remember the following principles of safe moving and handling in health and social care:

1. Before performing handling, one must measure the risk factors. From checking the mobility level of the care recipient, the barriers in moving space, and the capabilities of the service giver.

2. Keeping a good body posture and following safe handling guidelines are vital. Such as 

• not lifting above the shoulders
• keeping the legs on a solid surface
• keeping the feet stable
• holding the person firmly
• lifting as smoothly as possible.

3. Know the ropes of using equipment in detail. This could include moving and handling equipment and emergency medical equipment.

4. Make sure the communication is clear between service providers. Some equipment requires teamwork. In that situation, clear communication will help the process.

What is a risk assessment in health and social care?

Risk assessment ensures all parties’ health safety, whether you are a facility owner, manager, or staff member.

The trained staff member conducts the risk assessment process. However, staff members must complete the assessment process before handling it.

When talking about moving and handling risk assessment in health and social care, its core components are:

1. Hazard identification

2. Risk evaluation

3. Up-to-date training for service providers.

4. Review and monitor risk regularly

5. Identifying control measures.

The NHS risk assessment guidance suggests using ergonomic handling equipment and competent assessors to avoid injury risk. NHS also suggests:

1. Preferring individual choice of using mobility assistance as far as possible.

2. Documenting environmental constraints and hazards and assessing them.

3. Updating new equipment as per the needs of care recipients.

4. Review ongoing assessment procedures and documentation of handling tasks.

The risk assessment process ensures a safe healthcare environment by sorting and removing things that can cause harm.

Moving and handling policy in health and social care

When it comes to policies, the NHS clearly talks about them. There are written regulations crafted to avoid any risk when handling care recipients. NHS’s moving and handling policy mainly addresses statutory obligations, legislation, and risk assessment.

The core purpose of making a policy is to avoid injury when conducting moving and handling. For that reason, the policy:

• Makes training mandatory for all staff involved in handling.

• Commands on ensuring usage of appropriate equipment.

• Announces the safety of patients and staff health as its primary concern.

• Instructs staff and employees to adhere to the safe handling protocols.

• Suggests avoiding manual handling that poses risks of injury.

• Mandates the staff members to have up-to-date training and the latest practices following the HSE guidelines.
• Using equipment that is “fit for purpose.”

• Suggests assessing risks before handling essential equipment.

• Talks about dynamic assessment and evacuation protocols in terms of emergency moving and handling.

So far, this blog post has discussed things you need to know before using manual handling equipment. Now, let’s take a look at some types of health and social care equipment.

Level 2 & 3 Diploma in Health & Social Care

Enrol Now

What Does Moving Equipment Include In Health And Social Care?

Health and social care equipment is constantly being developed. Therefore, before answering what equipment is used in health and social care directly, it’s better to look at some tasks involved that require equipment.

1. Standing, sitting, walking.

2. Bathing and toileting

3. Lifting

4. Bed mobility

5. Lateral transfering.

Regarding mobility aids in healthcare, using the right equipment based on task types is crucial.

As Patient transfer devices in health and social care, sliding sheets, transfer belts, transfer boards, Mobile hoists, standing hoists, ceiling hoists, bathing hoists, slings, wheelchairs, and stretchers are commonly used.

Let’s look at some examples of moving equipment used in health and social care, along with what tasks they are involved in.

• Wheelchairs
• Hoists
• Slings
• Slide Sheets
• Transfer belts
• Mobility scooters
• Walking sticks
• Emergency equipment
• Shower and bath aids
• Standing aids and trolley
• Profiling or adjustable beds

Wheelchairs

People with walking issues use wheelchairs. Not necessarily every person who uses wheelchairs is disabled. The elderly and post-operative patients also use them.

In health and social care, wheelchairs are primarily used for transferring patients with physical disabilities such as stroke, spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, or polio.

However, some tasks regarding wheelchair handling in care are critical. You need to be extra careful when conducting. For example, transfer a patient from bed to chair. Equipment like slide sheets, transfer belts, and slings are required in that case.

Here is a short transfer training for those who want to get a basic idea about the use of a wheelchair in transferring.

Hoists

Hoist Usage in Patient Care is very common. The main purpose of hoists is to help a patient lifting and lowering. This function is required in multiple tasks like standing, sitting, toileting, and bathing.

Both manual and electronic hoists can be seen and used in care settings. Some common types of hoists used in health and social care are 

1. Static hoists.

2. Ceiling hoists

3. Mobile hoists.

4. Bathing hoists.

5. Standing hoist.

To conduct each task, you need to know the type of hoist you need and how to use a hoist properly.

Slings

A sling is a must equipment for hoisting. It’s the device that supports a client before performing a lifting or lowering. Generally, slings are made of durable fabrics and come in various sizes.

Based on the task, there are several types of slings available for healthcare use.

• Universal sling: also known as a general-purpose sling. Performs multiple tasks and is mostly used for routine transfers.

• Hygiene slings: Used for hygienic purposes such as toileting, bathing, and showering.

• Stand assist slings: Used with standing hoists. They are comfortable and fastened around the waist of the client.

• Disposable slings: Single-use situation slings. Helps in infection control and ensures extra hygiene.

• Hammock sling: A rectangular sling covering a larger body area. Provide better support to the sacral area. Mostly used for clients with lower body tones.

• Repositioning sling: A full-body sling. Used mostly to change positions or turn in bed.

• Walking sling: Provide support while walking. Especially used by people with low leg strength.

Slide Sheets

Slide sheets are used to move care recipients horizontally on beds, wheelchairs, or trollies without lifting. These are very commonly used equipment in health and social care settings and cost much less.

These devices are very simple and easy to use. Still, the service provider needs to be trained to operate. Slide sheet used in healthcare settings involves:

• Moving a client to a suitable position in bed. 
• Changing sides in bed.
• Transferring a client from bed to chair or bed to bed.
• Changing positions on the floor in emergency situations.

You’ll get slide sheets in different sizes. Both padded and unpadded sheets are available in the market.

Transfer belts

The transfer belt is another commonly used piece of equipment in health and social care settings. They are fastened around the client’s torso or waist area when performing a transfer. Transfer belts help service recipients with independent mobility. 

Some clients are difficult to hold due to their size or discomfort. For example, when a male caregiver doing the transferring to a female client.

Transfer belts are mostly used in the rehabilitation process. They are well-built and made of fabric or cushioned material.

Mobility scooters

Pushing the wheelchair becomes exhausting from time to time. Clients with active hands can use mobility scooters to move around freely. However, the healthcare facility must have a large space or premises to operate a mobility scooter.

Mobility scooters provide clients with more mobility, more scope to explore and socialise, and a great chance to access amenities. The devices have well-built frames, made with sturdy plastics, and ensure more control in the hands of the client.

On the other hand, before using a mobility scooter, the setting must train the client well to operate the device.

Walking sticks

Elderly people often use walking sticks to move around without any person’s support. It’s another great support during the rehabilitation process. Moving around and exploring for mental and physical healing is crucial. In that case, walking sticks are common equipment in use.

An ergonomic walking stick has an easy grip, a flexible foot, and quality materials. You’ll get walking sticks made of wood, aluminium, carbon fibre, steel, and other robust materials.

Emergency equipment

All health and social care settings should have equipment for emergency support. An emergency evacuation can be required in situations like natural calamities or fire beaking. Or in situations like if a patient falls on the floor.

There are multiple health and social care equipment designed for emergency support. For example:

• Slide pads and sheets
• Spine boards
• Evacuation chairs
• Scoop stretchers
• Stretchers

Shower and bath aids

For the elderly and people with mobility issues, taking a shower and bath becomes struggling. The most popular showering and bathing aids in health and social care are 

• Wheeled Shower chairs
• Manual bath hoists
• Mobile shower trolleys
• Grab rails
• Shower commode
• Bath safety strips
• Bathtub grab bars
• Bath steps

The use of shower and bath equipment depends on the comfort and mobility level of the service recipient.

Standing aids and trolley

Standing aid equipment is used by clients who can stand but struggle to walk. There are several types of standing aids and trolleys to help clients with this. They can be both electric and non-electric.

A standing trolley is commonly used to transfer a client from a wheelchair to a toilet. The trolleys usually have seats and handles. The client holds the handles while the carer conducts the transfer process.

Usually, standing trolleys have adjustable heights, supportive frames, padded seats, kneed support, a lifting mechanism, locking casters, an emergency stop button, and a user-friendly design.

Adjustable beds

A typical health and social care setting will have adjustable beds for clients. Good profiling beds offer a smooth height adjustment option, an adjustable backrest, leg elevation, robust side rails, a comfortable mattress, convenient remote control options, and a good battery backup.

Both electric and manual adjustable beds are available on the market. The best bed will offer the client more mobility and independence and reduce the care provider’s workload.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

What does moving equipment include in health and social Care? In health and social care, there is equipment available for all essential tasks. The primary purpose of these devices is to ensure safe movement.

However, to operate the equipment safely, one must be trained in manual handling. There are also some guidelines and policies the healthcare authorities share. As a responsible care provider, every staff member must adhere to the correct handling process and know the policies in detail.

This blog post has covered all essential equipment required to run a health and social care setting.

Care Certificate Standards: 1-15 (Complete Bundle)

Enrol Now