Renfrew Group International assist UKDI, with a new type of stretcher, which has recorded a bumper six months of sales after securing four new NHS contracts.

Renfrew Group International was commissioned by UKDI to provide the design and development expertise for the new Recovery + all plastics stretcher, a lightweight, highly flexible three-part foldable device made entirely from polymer materials. This personnel device with its restraining features, is designed to be used by security and medical authorities for safely medicating and transporting vulnerable or disorderly people who may also be subject to Xray or MRI scanning whist remaining aboard. (Plastics do not create the shadowing that occurs when metals are present in the image field)

The product is designed to provide a range of safe options for emergency responses and has been used by the NHS for two years.

UKDI director Nick Gray, says “The stretcher is a multi-positional flexible stretcher which folds into 3 parts – a treatment platform that can be used for transport, evacuation, and rescue. It can be used in a seated position, or a supine position”.

Recovery + is designed for front line responders and carers be they nursing staff, police, fire and rescue or prison service officers, in fact anybody who has to deal with an individual in a dignified manner. Use of the equipment helps to de-escalate situations where the responder may be dealing with violent or disruptive people.

Nick Gray “The stretcher is produced with simple principles, in particular the way a person would like to be treated, with a specific focus on compassion, dignity and safety for carers and patients alike.”

The design concept, incorporates a jointing/hinging detail to allow the 3 sections of the device to be arranged as a supported seat, a self-supporting seat and a stretcher. In the seat mode the elements supporting the thighs and lower legs are able to be fixed in a roughly 90degree and 180degree relationship one to another, and the back element can be fixed in a 0degree (folded) to roughly 100degree and 180degree relationship to provide support in a sitting and prone attitude. Features on the main sections allow for the attachment of bespoke carrying handles and secure restraint straps in any position along the edges. A prop can be hinged out to support the backrest in the seated position and the whole stretcher, with occupant, can be placed on a typical commercial aircraft seat.

The Recovery + is capable of providing secure support for a 120 kilo person in a sitting or prone position. The mechanism is simple, robust and easy to manufacture. All the materials are X ray transparent which allows the stretcher and its occupant, who may be restrained, to be swiftly conveyed through X ray security gates.

The main components of the stretcher are rota moulded in HDPE. During the design RGI also conducted stress analysis simulations to determine strength, material distribution and selection, sag limitations and overall design parameters.

Senior designer and projects manager at RGI James Williamson says “The project was a first in terms of having to provide a structurally sound adjustable device entirely composed of plastic components. Where we would normally specify metal for pivoting and locking elements, we had instead to design and engineer plastics parts which would withstand the various mechanical loads without flexing or fracturing” …..”Material selection was a crucial part of the design process”

Recovery + is CE marked and is manufactured in full accordance with all relevant European EN standards”