Evac+Chair International has provided NHS Halton and St Helens’ Primary Care Trust (PCT) with “a simple and cost-effective” means of evacuating staff and patients from its clinics and health centres in emergency.
Colette Rowley, corporate services manager, explained: “Several of our clinics and health centres have one or two floors where clinical services are delivered to both able-bodied and disabled patients. Obviously in the event of fire evacuation the lifts cannot be used.” Evac+Chairs were ordered for Garswood Primary Health Centre, Bevan Way Clinic, Newton Hospital, Fingerpost Healthcare Centre, and Halton Independent Living. The “intelligently designed” chairs use continuous rotating v-belts to provide smooth, controlled descent over stair nosings in proportion to passenger weight, enabling a single user to evacuate a mobility impaired person down stairs and out to safety. The Trust said the training, after-sales back-up and servicing offered were also key to the chairs’ selection.
