Maintenance best practice for electric profiling beds (EPBs)

The use of electric profiling beds is widespread across UK NHS and other health and care organisations. This equipment has made major contributions to quality of life, comfort and recovery of the patient involved, as well as to reductions in manual handling risks faced by health and care employees.

Medical equipment safety - what's involved?

Electric profiling bed equipment is subject to inspection and maintenance standards as laid out by the Medical Devices Regulations 2002 and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) which establishes that equipment provided for use at work must be ‘safe for use, maintained in a safe condition, and inspected to ensure it is correctly installed and does not subsequently deteriorate’.

Electric profiling beds are classified in terms of both their power supply and patient safety characteristics.

Specialist medical equipment, and especially equipment that is likely to be heavily used and physically moved around, requires experienced and qualified inspection personnel to undertake safety testing. Standard electrical testing (PAT) services for portable electrical assets do not meet current leakage and fault tolerances required for medical equipment in direct contact with patients.

Medical Electrical Safety Test Sequence:

A visual check to ensure that the unit has full functionality
Inspection of the Plug top, lead and appliance
Inspection of the structure and connections

Protective Earth Community
Insulation Resistance
Earth Leakage Current

Touch Current
Patient Leakage Current
Patient Auxiliary Current

What should inspection and maintenance best practice for EPB look like?

Put simply, annual inspection and maintenance of electric bed equipment verifies the safety, performance and condition of these important medical equipment assets.

JPEN Medical can offer one annual visit from a qualified experienced engineer should deliver a comprehensive inspection regime at a fixed unit price. Beds should be unoccupied and decontaminated during the inspection:

· Medical Electrical Safety Test – Ensuring no risk of fires and electric shock to staff and patients?

· Manufacturers checklist tests – Ensuring safety and extending the lifetime of the equipment

· PUWER Inspections - Ensuring beds are evaluated for potential entrapment risks and avoidable accidents - minimising H&S risks to nursing staff and patients.

· Asset Management – All beds can be asset tagged and the information stored on our CAFM system with the creation of a Planned Preventative Maintenance regime.

For more information on medical fridge servicing, you can email us on info@jpenmedical.co.uk or call 0333 005 0486