Your Guide to Choosing a Mobile Hoist
15 Minute Read
When you are in the market for a mobile hoist, there are many viable options available and choosing the right hoist for your facility and your service user can at times be an overwhelming decision to make. Having clarity on the considerations that can be made before selecting what is right for your facility and service user can help to streamline the decision making process, whilst helping to ensure you choose the mobile hoist that is best suited to your individual needs. As patient handling equipment experts, we have thirty years of experience in the healthcare industry guiding care homes, special schools and hospitals on what mobile hoist can best meet their needs.
In this article, our Medaco experts lay out a clear guide on how best to specify the optimal mobile hoist for your service user and care environment.
What are the Needs of the Service User?
When specifying which mobile hoist to purchase, the premiere consideration that should be made are the needs of the service user individually. You can assess the service user’s needs by taking into consideration their mobility capacity. For instance, will a mobile hoist best serve their transfer needs the most safely and efficiently?
It is equally integral to clarify what types of transfer the service user will need during hoisting. Where will the transfer be conducted to and from: is the service user being hoisted from a chair to a bed. From a bed to a wet room etc. Making this distinction will allow for you to specify the certain features you will need the hoist to have.
Querying the needs of your service user will help to narrow your options as you will be able to have a better notion as to what technical specifications your mobile hoist will need to have.
For example: Will the hoist need to have a wide leg function that will allow for the hoist to go straight up to a chair? Or a boom arm that can fit across the surface of a wide bed? Does your service user require transfer from the floor to be lifted to high surfaces – requiring your hoist to have a wide lifting range?
What Type of Care Environment Will the Hoist Be Used In?
The type of facility your mobile hoist will be used within is a good fact to know when specifying what hoist to go with. As mobile hoists are made of varying material and sizes, knowing the environment your hoist will be used in will allow you to make a good decision on which is best suited for your facility.
Domestic properties tend to be smaller in size in regards to their hallways and doorways. If you are shopping for a domestic property, it is good to keep the mobile hoist’s base width, base length and turning diameter to mind. In a domestic setting, a more compact mobile hoists will best serve the environment and the service user.
Care home facilities on the other hand, tend to be purpose built and often offer larger corridors, rooms and passageways. Meaning their capacity to accommodate a larger hoist is greater.
Mobile hoists are often made up of either aluminium and or steel. In the case of mobile hoists, aluminium may be the preferred material type as hoists made from this material are lighter and much easier to manoeuvre over carpet, wood, and tile flooring.
Some service users require their mobile hoist for travel. When this is the case, it is good to explore hoists that have a folding function so that they may be easily stored and mobilised when needed.
Our article 3 Best Mobile Hoists for Care Homes covers incredible mobile hoist options to consider.
Additionally, not all hoists are made to offer transfer in wet room environments such as bathing areas or therapy settings. If your hoist is to be used to transfer a service user in an environment such as this, it is good to specify a hoist that is made for these rooms.
What are the Weight Bearing Requirements?
All patient handling equipment comes with a safe working load designated by the manufacturer and abiding by the weight requirements of the hoist in regards to your service user is key in ensuring their safe transfer. Before searching for a mobile hoist, be sure to weigh your service user and make sure you are choosing a hoist that is suitable for them.
Many mobile hoists offer the weighing scale attachments that can be added so that your facility may weigh your service user.
Consider the Quality of the Mobile Hoist
Just as with all other patient handling equipment, the quality of the manufacturing of some mobile hoists is of superior standard to others. Be sure to always conduct your research on the mobile hoist you are thinking of purchasing by reading its technical specifications, its service features, reviews, the materials that are used and the warranty that the manufacturer provides.
What are the Ongoing Maintenance Costs?
When buying a mobile hoist, you should consider the ongoing maintenance costs that come with caring for your mobile hoist equipment. As mobile hoists fall under LOLER, it is essential to consider the accessibility of spare parts should a repair be needed, and what models perform the best over time.
Read our article, The Most Common Causes of Breakdowns in Mobile Hoists and How to Reduce Them, to learn more about how best to care for your hoists.
Here at Medaco, we supply the nation’s largest library of patient handling equipment. With thirty years in the business, we know the best makes and models of mobile hoists on the market and have worked seamlessly to ensure the products we provide have efficient lead times on spare parts.
What are the Ongoing Maintenance Costs?
When operating a care facility, you are often faced with a stretched budget. When speaking with a patient handling equipment provider, be sure to explore the full extent of options suited to your budget. At Medaco, we’ve curated a healthy stock of mobile hoists to suit varying budgets. Whether you are an individual looking to purchase a new hoist, or a care facility looking to upgrade your equipment, we can help guide you to quality and affordable options.
Did You Know We Offer VAT Exemption and Equipment Leasing? Learn More About Equipment Leasing Here.
Occupational Therapists are Your In-House Experts
Occupational Therapists are health care professionals that specialise in guiding service users and care facilities on best practices. Their expertise can provide a holistic perspective on what equipment is best suited for your service user’s needs. Whenever possible, it is best to seek your occupational therapist’s sound advice on what mobile hoist is best.
An OT will not only be able to advise on what mobile hoist is best, but also what accessories are needed. They can help to guide you on what type of spreader bar is appropriate for the sling attachment required, and what lifting capacity is needed in the safe transfer of your service user.
Other Considerations You Can Make
When looking for a mobile hoist for your service user or care facility, it is important to specify what type of sling your facility will use so that you may specify whether your hoist will have a loop or clip fixing. Loop fixings are potentially more user friendly and much more standard across the market.
Helpful Tip: Flat or failing batteries are so often a cause of fault when owning a mobile hoist. It is important to have a systematic method to the charging of your hoist’s batteries in place.
A Helpful Guide and Video Can Be Found Here
Our Medaco professionals are experts in the best mobile hoists available on the market and are the number one supplier across the UK. If you have further queries or would like to speak to one of our team members for help choosing the best mobile hoist for your needs, get in touch with us, we are happy to help.
