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Fitted sheets on beds.

Posted By j-plymouth

"Fitted sheets on beds."

About: Derriford Hospital / Accident and emergency Derriford Hospital / Cardiology Derriford Hospital / General medicine

(as a service user),

A stay in hospital inevitably involves poor sleep through noise and uncomfortable beds – regardless of whether you are ill to start with. One of the problems is that the base sheet always ends up after 5 minutes in a scrunched up mess beneath you, displaced from the plastic mattress on a bed that moves.

Why not use a fitted base sheet? Rumour has it that they do in Exeter – why not at Derriford? It would remove one of the barriers to sleep and the HCAs and nurses I spoke to said it would also be easier to make the bed.

It means you would have a different sheet for the base then the top but that is a small price to pay for a better night’s sleep and less time making the bed.

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Responses

Response from Alison Stanton, Complaints and PALS Manager, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust 3 weeks ago
Alison Stanton
Complaints and PALS Manager,
University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust

Submitted on 16/05/2024 at 15:10
Published on Care Opinion at 15:10

picture of Alison Stanton

The knitted fitted bottom sheet is something we introduced in the Royal Devon recently as a trial. The trial has gone well and has proven much better for the patient because the fitted bottom sheets no longer slide down the bed like the standard ones, when the mattress is raised or lowered.

There are efficiency savings to be gained by these bottom sheets not having to be changed so regularly and there is a saving on nursing times for the same reasons. To counter balance this they are slightly more expensive than the standard sheets, and if the bottom sheet isn’t separated from the used bundled bedding pack being returned, it has proven difficult and more time consuming for staff grading used linen. The top sheets remain the same and the clean fitted bottom sheets are delivered back in polyester bags in bundles of 10.

Although, the knitted fitted bottom sheets are returned in clean bundles, when stretched over the mattress they become crease free and aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

If Exeter is successful in the current retender process then this innovative product is definitely something we could now offer as part of our services to the UHP Hospitals.”

Kind regards

Louise Pelley | Portering Manager

University Hospitals Plymouth - Site Services Department

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