Case Study: Helping improve patient care in North Lincolnshire
Seven bed lifts in two regional hospitals have been brought bang up to date by the East Midlands branch of Stannah Lift Services.
All lifts have a lifetime and this long-serving septet had reached the end of reliable service. Despite previous part improvements they were beginning to let people down and undermine hospital service.
The bed lifts are ranged over two sites: four bed lifts at Scunthorpe General and three at Diana, Princess of Wales. Major improvement works were vital in order to bring the lifts up to new/current regulations, which included incorporating new landing doors and frames with formal fire certification.
The East Midlands branch of Stannah Lift Services was awarded the contract by North Lincolnshire Hospital Trust – a contract won on the strength of an excellent servicing history with the hospitals’ bed lifts. This substantial refurbishment means that both hospitals can sustain their first class service to patients and staff alike.
Scunthorpe General Hospital
A Duplex pair of bed lifts, 9 and 10, serves 4 floors over a distance of 8 metres. Another Duplex pair, 11 and 12, serves 6 floors with 16 metres of travel. The lift design was modified from Geared to Gearless to improve efficiency and power consumption.
The Bed Lifts
Rated load: 28 person / 2100kg per lift
Speed: 1.0m/s
Control type: Duplex full collective
Drive: VVVF traction
Roping arrangement: 1:1
Motor room
Load on motor room floor per lift: 154.3kn (not acting simultaneously with loads under all buffers or car guide rails)
Pit
Load under each car guide rail: 47.2kn Not simultaneous
Load under each car buffer: 122kn Not simultaneous
Load under each counter weight guide rail: 7.3kn
Load under each counter weight buffer: 85.9kn
Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital
A Triplex, comprising bed lifts 1, 2 and 3, serves 3 floors over a distance of 4 metres. In this instance, the Geared design was retained as the cost to modify the 2:1 suspension arrangements to Gearless would not have been financially beneficial, compared to the potential energy cost savings.
The Bed Lifts
Rated load: 28 person / 2100kg per lift
Speed: 1.0m/s
Control type: Triplex full collective
Drive: VVVF traction
Roping arrangement: 1:1
Motor room
Load on motor room floor per lift: 167.6kn (not acting simultaneously with loads under all buffers or car guide rails)
Pit
Load under each car guide rail: 47.4kn Not simultaneous
Load under each car buffer: 132.5kn Not simultaneous
Load under each counter weight guide rail: 4.0kn
Load under each counter weight buffer: 95.4kn
General works – complete capability
As Principle Contractor, Stannah was given complete control of all works involved in this refurbishment programme. This covered:
Modernisation: of landing and lift car controls, operating buttons and indicators; the replacement of safety gear with progressive, standards-compliant, bi-directional equipment; new, fire-rated landing entrance frames and full depth architraves; energy saving features ensure the lifts meet with the latest building requirements.
Civil and building works and attendances: providing site entrance protection, storage/site office establishment; managing the disposal of waste for recycling or environmental disposal as appropriate – all within the requirements of the Construction, Design and Management Regulations 2007 (CDM).
All deliveries in conjunction with hospital activities: maintaining hospital routines, each lift upgrade was completed in rotation so that at least one lift, within each group of lifts, remained in service.
All offstage essentials and making good: replacing the electrical power supplies, shaft and machine room lighting, plus significant decoration of all machine rooms and shafts; stripping back of all lifts to guides, retaining only steelwork sections of the slings and counterweights; replacing the remaining equipment; increasing the speed to 1.0m/sec; incorporating Duplex and Triplex controls.
New lift cars
Each lift car was completely replaced with new resilient steel cabins. Finished to North Lincolnshire Hospital Trust’s specification to reflect corporate image, the lifts now have a robust but aesthetically pleasing finish, incorporating LED tube lighting to save energy. Hinged access panels within the lift car make tube future replacement and cleaning quick and easy.
“Refurbishing hospital lifts is always particularly challenging. Working in a clean and 24/7 environment takes meticulous planning, ensuring at least one lift gives uninterrupted, essential service whilst work on the other lifts is actioned. The project was long but rewarding work, resulting in lifts that display improved performance, smoother movement, excellent leveling and reduced energy consumption. In short, lifts that enhance the hospitals and say ‘welcome’ to visitors, patients and staff alike.”
New equipment
This includes electronics that record the activity of the lift on a day-to-day basis. Planned maintenance is in place as the lifts handle a substantial amount of traffic, but overall there has been a huge reduction in service call-outs and a significant increase in reliability, giving the hospital better circulation of human traffic at a reduced operational cost.
5 year service contract
On the strength of this project, and a preceding temporary service contract, the East Midlands branch was awarded a 5 year service contract.
This 24 hour, 365 days a year after-care package will monitor the condition of all lift stock in the hospital buildings, optimising performance and reducing running costs.
The Stannah promise
- Stannah is committed to delivering:
- The best quality products
- Superior service
- Good value for money
And, last but not least, complete reliability
All backed by a 150-year lift manufacturing pedigree.