Willowbrook Hospice: Lento Mobile Case Study

When Willowbrook Hospice approached us to enquire about the purchase of new specialist seating, to go into their 10 newly refurbished patient bedrooms, we were thrilled to be able to support them.  After supporting them in their journey to find new portable rise and recline chairs, we finally chose and delivered a new fleet of Lento Mobiles.

Willowbrook Hospice is an independent UK charity which was formed in 1993, to establish and create a local, specialist palliative care unit for the nearby community. With the doors being opened to their hospice in 1997, located in the borough of Knowsley (Merseyside), they have provided care, comfort, compassion, love, and laughter to over 10,000 patients since then.

To this day, the hospice maintains a massive focus on quality of care for the people they look after, both in the hospice and in the community.  In their own words: “Willowbrook instils a holistic approach to the care we provide to our patients and their families. We don’t just care for a person’s physical needs but also for their emotional, spiritual and social needs too.

The Challenge

As with many multi-user healthcare facilities who are looking after multiple patients at a time, the existing rise recline chairs in the patient bedrooms at Willowbrook Hospice were starting to show their age, and had become unfit for purpose.

The once vibrant fabrics were becoming worn, displaying the unmistakable signs of daily use and cleaning. This inevitable wear and tear led to a tired aesthetic that clashed with the hospice’s otherwise tranquil and comforting environment.  In addition to the visible wear, the mechanical and structural components of the rise recline chairs had also suffered from years of continuous operation.  The chairs, initially chosen for their comfort and functionality, had over time lost their ability to properly support and care for the patients that sat in them.

Thankfully, Willowbrook Hospice had recently embarked on a large refurbishment project of their in-patient-unit bedrooms when they approached Vivid Care.  This meant that they could take the opportunity to replace their old chairs with a brand new fleet, with more recently developed features for enhanced clinical and therapeutic benefits.

The Solution

As Willowbrook Hospice investigated different seating options on the market, we were able to introduce the ideal and most popular patient care chair for hospices – the Lento Mobile!  As a portable hybrid between traditional care chairs and riser recliners, this seating solution offered everything and more than they would need to enhance their palliative care.

Following a series of initial demonstrations and discussions with the Willowbrook team, the hospice went ahead and purchased 6 brand new Lento Mobile chairs.

These are some of the features that led to the Lento Mobile chairs being chosen by Willowbrook Hospice:

• Comfort-enhancing and supportive movement functions: locking tilt-in-space, rise recline, independent back angle movement, and vertical rise to make getting in and out of the chairs easier.
• Convenient and portable: The chairs are on smooth gliding castors, and have an ergonomic push handle with an easy to use brake.  They are also designed to move between rooms and through standard width doors, meaning that carers within the in-patient unit could transport less mobile patients around the facility, and even outside into the immaculately maintained gardens.
• Easily adjustable and modular for postural support and comfort: the Lento Mobile rise and recline chairs have been built to be adapted, allowing carers to adjust the size and positioning of the seats, backs and leg rests for individual patient needs.
• In-built pressure care: the seat and cushions of the chairs come with in-built pressure care.
• Infection control friendly: all of the cushion and frame materials can be easily accessed and wiped each day, an important feature for equipment going into a multi-user healthcare environment. The cushion covers can also be removed and machine washed!
• Durable and safe: these chairs are built in the UK on a solid steel frame and with long-lasting materials for maximum durability.
• Colour options for a homely look: the Lento chairs all come with a wide variety of beautiful material colour options, meaning that Willowbrook could stay on brand and keep their chairs looking homely and inviting.

The Result

Following the delivery of our new Lento Mobile chairs to Willowbrook Hospice, the impact on the lives of the patients and carers alike has been hugely positive.  The manager at the hospice said:

“The new chairs are just really comfortable and plush.  They don’t look too clinical, but are also infection control compliant at the same time, and staff can move them around the hospice really easily.  The colours we were able to choose also fit in well with our colour scheme.”

“We are looking forward to seeing many benefits to our patients from these chairs, for many years to come.  They are already making life easier for the care team, so we are really pleased!”