According to a 2016 report by the WHO, globally there are 650 million people that are obese accounting for approx. 13% of the world’s adult population.

Healthcare settings face the challenge of managing an effective Infection Control protocol on a daily basis. Ensuring the safety of patients and staff at all times, in a range of different settings requires a robust process, where care and treatment can be delivered without the risk of infection due to poor hygiene standards.

Patient transfer tasks occur across multiple healthcare settings and are often high risk activities for both caregivers and patients. Risk of patient and staff injury has led to the development of global Safe Patient Handling programmes.

The International Pressure Ulcer Prevention and Management Guidelines discuss how managing microclimate can provide an environment conducive to injury prevention and tissue repair. As such the guidelines recommend the need for additional features such as the ability to control moisture and temperature when selecting a support surface.

There are different types of power assisted transport technologies used with hospital beds that help caregivers reduce effort in transporting patients throughout the facility.