Hospital League spends £221,455 on patient care
All 11 are now so old that at times three in a unit where at any one time up to 30% of the patients come from Bexhill may be out of action because of technical faults.
The League of Friends of Bexhill Hospital was told last night that it can take staff more than an hour to transfer a seriously-ill patient to a replacement bed.
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Hide AdHiring a bed when one of the unit's ageing examples is out of commission costs 140 in transport and 140 a day rental.
Pauline Simes, lead nurse, critical care, accompanied by colleague Fiona Stedman, brought colour brochures illustrating new beds to last Thursday's meeting of the Bexhill league's general committee.
The complex Hill-Rom beds cost an eye-watering 17,895 each.
But Pauline explained: "These are the beds that will enable patients to get out of critical care much, much quicker because they won't have the complications that they have now."
The range of specialised features includes power-operation to tilt the patient at the optimum 45 degrees to avoid pulmonary difficulties and power operation to turn them gently.