Key questions when buying high-low (wherever you are sourcing your bed)

Height-adjustable / high-low adjustable beds necessarily involve a number of key questions which must be considered before any decision is made about buying. Note that topics / questions are not presented here in any order of importance - what is fundamentally important in one case may well be completely irrelevant in another. What is or is not in fact important will always depend upon user characteristics and personal requirements.

The questions raised here concern chiefly performance rather than appearance. We understand that users may regard appearance as being of paramount importance; in our experience however, a choice must initially always be governed by performance: if equipment will not meet a user’s needs, it will never be properly suitable or satisfying to use. In this section, CBL = Cantilever Bed-Lifter; IPL = Integral Profile & Lift, H-Bed = H-Bed.

User-weight requirement?

What is the weight of the person who will be using the bed? Integral Profile & Lift mechanism solutions have a maximum user-weight of 18-19 stone. CBL solutions have height-adjustable functions with maximum user weights of 25 stone. H-Beds are different again. Check that specifications are appropriate for user-weight.

Achievable and workable operational overall heights?

The critical question is usually (and always whenever a user is getting into and out of bed somehow more or less ‘under their own steam’ - that is, without being hoisted on to the bed surface): will the top bed surface go down low enough? / What is the lowest overall height from floor to top of mattress surface that can be achieved, and is this workable for / does this meet with the user’s needs? / What lowest height must be attainable if the user is to successfully transfer on to or off the bed surface? Usually, the only way to be sure of what will work is for the user to actually try out an appropriate specification of bed in a proper assessment. Once lowest height has been settled, will the bed then still come up high enough for any carer need? 

Width?

Probably the easiest dimension question to answer. What width suits you? What space do you require to move whilst on the bed? What would be the best width size to leave sufficient moving & handling space in the room where the bed will be located? Does a compromise need to be made between these often conflicting requirements? CBL solutions are available in all width sizes; IP&L are generally only available in 2’6”, 3’ and 4’ width; H-Beds generally only in 3’ and 4’ & 4’6” width.

Standard length - extended length - reduced length?

This is another question that is easily understood - what length of bed will accommodate the user’s physical size whilst also fitting into the room / leaving maximum usable floor-space in the room where the bed will be situated? Does other furniture need to be taken into account - do other items need to be, or can other items be moved around? What essential items must be left in place / are immovable (for example, fitted wardrobes)? Note that in the case of H-Beds in particular – with raised foot end - overall length of mattress can be critical for tall users, and must be checked carefully.

Hoist access requirement?

Does the bed need to be able to accommodate a manual hoist which requires a certain minimum clearance along the floor surface underneath the bed? If so, the usual requirement is almost invariably for not more than 4.5” - but this needs to be checked in each case. ORWOODS can make adjustments to accommodate hoists where standard settings are insufficient. Note however, that when clearance is increased, it may mean that the top surface of a mattress will be correspondingly higher, something which may or may not be significant - hoist access clearance and overall height from floor to top of mattress surface have to be considered carefully together.

Entrapment risk?

The adjustable-height function literally ‘opens up’ entrapment questions which are not present in simpler profiling adjustable beds: the raising and lowering of the whole bed surface has to create gaps somewhere. Even though ‘push-only’ motor systems are designed so that it would only be gravity bearing down if entrapment did occur, the weight of bed base parts combined with user-weight on top will always be significant, and the risk of entrapment should at least be considered.

With the CBL style high-low, the risk is very limited. In the lower-sided CBL De-Luxe version it is practically eliminated altogether, since the gap opened up by the rising mechanism is underneath the bed base, and it is very/extremely unlikely that anyone could accidentally position either themselves or any limb in any area where the moving mechanism could pose any risk.

H-Beds are similarly comparatively very safe from an entrapment point of view since it is very obvious when the horizontal part of the ‘H-frame’ - the bed base - is going up and down. Movement of the bed platform upwards when the bed is being raised exposes metalwork so there is some entrapment risk at the ends when the H-Bed is lowered after being raised.

Integral Profile & Lift style actions present a slightly higher risk, since the gap due to rising opens up at the side of the bed, and it is relatively easy, for example, for something / someone’s hand or arm to stray into this area accidentally, or for a carer to lean inadvertently on the bed base surround, while the mechanism is being lowered; this is also particularly relevant where such actions are under consideration for use in a double-arrangement, where one user might be lifted upwards whilst the other remains at a lower level. Care should always be taken with the operation of high-low function beds, and risks should of course be considered in advance.

Side-edging detail?

Note that whereas in some bed styles, mattresses reach out to the very outside of the bed as they sit on top of the profiling base platform, added raised side-walls – between which a mattress will sit - have the potential benefit of preventing the mattress from moving sideways as the user gets into or out of / off the bed, something which can occasionally be very helpful for those individuals who have particular difficulty or who tend to push horizontally against the mattress as they go. On the other hand, with a ‘sit-in’ mattress, a small gap opens up under the knee/ behind the lower leg as the user sits on the side of the bed which then needs to be negotiated. Where side-walls are level with the top of the moving action and the bottom surface of the mattress - allowing the mattress to be made to the full width of the bed - no such gap exists, and the majority of people like to feel the top of the mattress edge as they stand before sitting down on to the bed surface. In our experience, the issue of sideways mattress movement is almost never significant (which is why we refer to the sit-in feature as a ‘potential benefit’), but it can nevertheless be very significant when it is significant at all - and it can be a particularly important issue for high-low bed solutions. Whether it is significant in any given case depends, as ever, upon user needs, and can only be addressed properly in a full assessment. See website for further information on this topic (products>adjustable beds>traditional divans).

Future foreseeable needs?

Does the solution under consideration meet likely foreseeable future needs? We are often involved with supply of equipment to individuals with developing conditions, and the various solutions we offer allow particular opportunities for specification changes into the future without requiring full-cost replacement of complete bed systems. The capacity to make specification adjustment ‘down the line’ is something which we always try to take into account in our assessments and proposed solutions - although the main focus must obviously always be on current mobility, condition and needs, consideration at the outset of available options to accommodate likely future needs can minimise future related financial outlay as and when required.  

Minimising the cost

Investment in a high-low adjustable bed solution is not a low-cost ‘no-brainer’ step to take: the complexities involved mean that it will always pay to have the job done properly and this means getting good accurate advice first time round - most probably, this means directly from a manufacturer. We will openly assert that you can practically guarantee any other approach will prove to be a mistake, and very probably an expensive one. Taking the trouble to research your options thoroughly is the only way to ensure that you will make a fully-informed decision; spending money wisely at the outset will always be the best way to ensure that financial outlay is minimised and most effectively spent.

Please feel free to contact us by telephone or e-mail to talk about high-low bed solutions or any other adjustable bed matter, or to arrange a full no-cost / no-obligation personal assessment. We strongly advise that a personal equipment assessment is carried out wherever possible.

For full information on our high-low no-cost/no-obligation personal assessment service please click here

Tel: 01636 525164 / 01522 692022 

email:  info@orwood.co.uk