When Siemens Healthineers introduced us to the Breast Screening Unit team at Royal Hampshire Hospital in Winchester, we were delighted to be able to help them out with a new VELA Mammography chair.
Siemens Healthineers is a German company which provides healthcare services. It was spun off from its parent company Siemens in 2017, and is now the parent company for several other European medical technology companies.
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust runs the Royal Hampshire Hospital in Winchester, including the Florence Portal House facility in which the Breast Screening Unit is situated. As a trust, they are committed to providing patients, visitors and staff with a high quality and safe environment for their services and care to take place.
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust serves a population of approximately 600,000 people across Hampshire and parts of west Berkshire.
The Process
When members of the team at the Winchester Breast Screening Unit visited the Portsmouth NHS Breast Screening Unit and saw a VELA Mammography chair in use, they knew they would benefit from one themselves, in their own facility! They were needing a solution that would make the screening process easier, safer, and at the same time bring better image quality.
It was also important for them to find a solution that was going to prevent repetitive strain injury on the backs and shoulders of the staff at Winchester, which can often be caused by having to continuously lean and manoeuvre patients in old and limited seating.
The VELA Mammography Chair
The VELA Mammography Chair is a European-made hospital chair that has been specifically designed for patients needing to sit during examinations, if they are a wheelchair user, or if they have a condition impacting their ability to stand for the duration of the screening.
With electrically adjustable height, easily adjustable arms, and a central 360-brake, this chair is ideal for enabling optimal patient positioning during examinations. The chair also has smooth-running wheels, push bar adjustment, and easy to wipe materials for infection control. All of these features combine to offer a wide range of benefits:
- Improved screening results with optimal positioning enabling better image quality,
- Increased patient comfort, as the chair can be adjusted for each person,
- Decreased staff injury, as adjustability and manoeuvring of patients is so much easier,
- Higher patient turnover each day, as the screening process is made much quicker due to more efficient positioning and manoeuvring of patients. This also enables the hospital to catch up on waiting lists.
- Better infection control, as the chair can be easily wiped down each day.
Feedback From The Hospital:
Since delivering the first VELA Mammography Chair to Winchester Hospital, the feedback has been glowing!
They said:
“The chair has provided staff with good ergonomics during mammography examination, by providing good posture for staff without unnecessary strain on the back and shoulders. Positioning patients has been so easy, and has definitely improved image quality.”
“Everyone here loves the chair, as it is so easy to manoeuvre and has really helped the department, especially with immobile patients.”
Learn More About The VELA Mammography Chair
Watch The VELA Mammography Chair In Action:
