Enhancement
Chair4Life promotes quality of life Renfrew submitted a tender based on stringent product development criteria. The design brief included the requirement to improve the quality of mobility equipment so that all children have equal opportunities to maximise their independence, as well as significantly reducing the length of time children wait for a provision of a wheeled mobility solution.
Renfrew Group International describes itself as an ‘ideas engine’ with the practical capabilities and skillset to convert concepts into useful and desirable products across a wide range of industries. In the medical and scientific arena the organisation has over twenty years’ experience working with clients from SMEs to large multinationals, providing them with specialist innovation services, medical device design expertise, ergonomics and low volume manufacture for clinical trials. As a consultancy, the Renfrew Group says it has gained an excellent reputation for the rapid commercialisation of MedTech devices and products of all types, and guarantees its customers the delivery of intellectual property as part of their response to a specific challenge. In 2011, the NHS conducted a major review of the landscape for wheelchair provision in England. The same year the Department of Health launched their “Child in a Chair in a Day” campaign, designed to help transform the delivery of paediatric wheelchair services in the NHS. In August 2012, the NHS National Innovation Centre (NIC) launched a competition to build upon this research and issued a brief to develop a paediatric powered wheelchair, which could better meet the needs of a wider user base.
It stated that a Paediatric Transport System is needed that promotes independence for children with profound and multiple disabilities and for their carers who require continual access to a large amount of care and monitoring equipment. The amount of equipment and lack of storage space on current transport chairs restricts the freedom of children and parents to go out. Therefore, the system must enable integration of all the necessary equipment to allow excursions and also accommodate the changing size of the child so they do not require a completely different system every year. The design was also required to accommodate the 80% of users whose disability or condition was less severe and for whom a standard range of facilities and adjustment was adequate. The Renfrew Group won the tender based on their ‘Chair4Life’ design concept. The team conducted an extensive consultation exercise with wheelchair users, healthcare professionals, patients and carers. Over 7,500 responses to questions were analysed, providing robust evidence upon which a detailed design specification was based. Emphasis was placed on producing a user-centred design that would adapt to an individual’s growing needs, with a seat and components designed to grow with the child, while being both compact and lightweight. Addressing all criteria, the Chair4Life is a compact universal, and modular powered wheelchair system that addresses the needs of at least 80% of paediatric users aged 4 to 18 years for powered wheelchairs. The design incorporated a unique, automatic, ‘Varitrak’ adjustable wheelbase allowing the user to adjust
Michael Phillips, Design Development Director, Renfrew Group commented on the Group’s engagement with Medilink, “Our business is about commercialising technologies, including design and batch manufacturing. A good proportion of our work is with Medtech business, developing products, but a proportion is with the NHS and Academics directly. I think that networking, particularly with Midlands companies, has been enhanced with Medilink’s involvement and has led to some useful commercial relationships.”
track and wheelbase to suit indoor or outdoor conditions. A wider, longer track and wheelbase also provides stability when it is needed and compactness for manoeuvrability in smaller spaces, providing greater freedom and independence. Another benefit attributed to the Chair4Life is a vertical lift. This key feature was requested by young users as it enables eye-to-eye interaction with their peers. Being able to talk face-to-face has been shown to facilitate social and educational development and improve feelings of dignity and independence. The Chair4Life is designed to last three times longer than the current typical electric powered wheelchair and offers cost savings of £625,610 pa per unit. Additionally, the ‘Child in a Chair in a Day’ objective has stimulated a move in the NHS towards new procurement processes, managed healthcare, tighter funding, and emerging new providers, the creation of a universal modular platform has been designed to increase flexibility and speed of provision to all users and suppliers.
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UK Lifescience Industry Magazine