Friends give specialist chair to the Conquest

Patients of up to 30 stones can be accommodated on the specialist chair which the League of Friends of Bexhill Hospital is buying for the orthopaedic department at the Conquest Hospital.

The department submitted a request to the league for a phlebotomy chair, costing £2,582.

The chair is required when taking blood samples and ECG readings on patients before they undergo orthopaedic surgery. The chair has electric height and backrest adjustment facilities, non-slip armrests and locking castors.

A high proportion of the patients treated at the unit are from Bexhill.

The decision to purchase the chair was taken when the league’s general committee met recently.

The meeting also decided to act after receiving a request for a Page Writer TC70 cardiograph costing £6,577 for the pre-operative assessment unit.

The unit requires a reliable, up-to-date ECG machine to use with the pre-operative assessment of patients to ensure they are fit for surgery and anaesthetics.

The pre-operative assessment unit sees up to 15 patients every day. The TC70 is designed to meet high-volume ECG demands. It interprets and reports the readings and is compatible with ECG machines used in the cardiology and other departments.

But the league rejected a request to buy personal attack alarms for NHS staff.

The meeting was told that in previous years Eastbourne League of Friends has bought personal attack alarms for East Sussex Healthcare Trust staff to improve their safety when travelling to and from work and while at work. The last order was for 900 but almost all were gone and the Trust wanted a further 450 to replace stock.

The meeting decided to take no action because the £912 item was not for medical equipment.