Design for Patient Dignity

The Reclining Day Chair and Bay Screen by PearsonLloyd: Constructed of an injection-moulded plastic frame and a polyurethane seat, the chair is aimed at patients who are too nauseous or faint for a wheelchair but not ill enough to need a hospital bed. The chair reclines for comfort and tilts forward to enable patients to get in and out easily. 'Our brief was about mobility,' says Tom Lloyd. 'Constantly transferring patients from a bed to chair and back again is hazardous. We identified that there were lots of procedures that could happen in one product.' The pair have also designed a screen divider based on tent technology. For small spaces, they propose that the chairs and screens are positioned in a diagonal arrangement to ensure privacy – similar to that used for the upper class cabin they designed for Virgin Atlantic – so that patients can't see each other. (www.pearsonlloyd.com)