Watch a film about the Commode & Patient Chair on Vimeo.
Luke Pearson
Director, PearsonLloyd
I’m Luke Pearson, I’m one of the directors at Pearson Lloyd and we’re working on the commode and the patient chair.
Tom Lloyd
Director, PearsonLloyd
The traditional hospital commode
Traditionally commodes in the healthcare sector have to perform on multiple levels and historically that’s led to them becoming quite complex products. They’re almost like wheelchairs and toilets combined. And so our big goal in the project has been to reduce the number of parts in the product, and to facilitate the cleaning process through that.
Martin Battye
Group Chairman, Kirton Healthcare
The design team
We were very lucky to hook up with Brunel University and also the Micro-Biology Department at Anglo Ruskin, so, we’re getting some very high level technical input at both consumer patterns from Brunel, and also the Design Bugs Out, the actual, that element through Anglo Ruskin.
David Wickett
Designer, Kirton Healthcare
User research
The ergonomics and comfort aspect came through really strong from the user research.
Tom Lloyd
Design challenges
The first thing you’ve got to do is try and minimise the ability for germs to collect on the product. And then you’ve got to maximise the ability for them to be removed. So in principle that means as few parts as possible and parts that can be cleaned as easily as possible.
From early research we then went into one-to-one prototyping, because obviously furniture’s very much a one-to-one process. That then slowly runs into CAD, computer-aided design, and engineering. And that rolls then back into how are we going to make this thing.
Well the commode is a portable product that’s used either at bedside or as a means of taking patients from their bed to the toilet and back again. It’s trying to do lots of things well within one object. Because it acts both as a portering chair to a toilet and also has to be used at the bedside by a patient. So we’re having to tackle multiple functions and multiple scenarios within one product.
Luke Pearson
Increasing cleanability; reducing bugs
We’ve reduced the frame down to the absolute minimum number of parts and there are virtually no edges or seams or junctions where these bugs can actually hide.
The other major feature is that the seat pan that you sit on, or the seat in the back that you sit on, has virtually no joins, seams or junctions on it. So the cleanability of that is, is increased massively.
Tom Lloyd
Serving function through structure
The primary plastic shell on the commode is a high gloss. And whenever we can, we’re using high gloss surfaces to do that so that the cleaning process is facilitated. Obviously that has to be balanced against function, so when there are footrests and grips, you need to have a certain amount of texture so that people don’t just slip off. The main structure of the commode is in stainless steel and again that’s both a durability and a strength and a cleaning part of the project.
The patient chair
The patient chair is the chair that sits by a patient’s bed; so it’s the product they sit in when they’re beginning their recovery process, when they’re getting out of their bed.
Luke Pearson
Effectively we have a mono-shell with no seams on it. Into that, we’re then placing foam cushions which are covered in a polyurethane skin which then has a taped join all the way around it. Now, that allows these particular units to be cleaned very well and know that we’re not going to get any moisture inside them.
Tom Lloyd
A freshly made up chair for each new patient
We’re using the function and the cleaning process of a bed to deliver those pads. In other words the cushions use loose pillowcases effectively that are sent away and laundered in the same way as bed clothing is. That means that when a patient arrives in their space for the first time, not only is the bed freshly made up but the chair is also freshly made up.
Luke Pearson
The choice of materials
The choice of materials for the patient chair, primarily it’s to do with durability and longevity.
Tom Lloyd
In terms of the primary structures, we’re using stainless steel, we’re using moulded plastics and we’re using aluminium.
Luke Pearson
Setting the standard for the future
I think the primary hope is that they’ll improve the situation in terms of healthcare and, you know, keeping these bugs at bay.
Martin Battye
You want it to become the norm, the standard for commodes, you want it to become the standard for bedside chairs, you know, for at least a generation.
David Wickett
I’d like to see the bedside chair by every bed in hospitals and, and the commodes being the standard ward commode.
Tom Lloyd
And I think it’s a project that as a complete process, has a huge potential impact in improving hospital environments.