Step Exhibitions
SHOWER Ensuite Door System – Kingsway Group & Rotherham, Doncaster & South Humber NHS Foundation Trust
Nominee Information
Background & product requirements:
Collaborating with Rotheram Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust, a dementia-friendly ensuite door solution was needed to safely provide privacy, dignity, and physical support for service users within the Trust’s Older Adults Wards while still enabling staff observation when necessary. Given the specific needs of the service user group, it was important to have a door which is easy to use and for its function to be easily recognisable, supported through visual signposting and use of anti-ligature handles.
Trust & service user testing:
To best meet the Trust and service users’ needs, a bespoke variation of Kingsway Group’s SHOWER Ensuite Door System was developed featuring anti-ligature ironmongery and custom signage & finishes. Following a successful trial within a live ward environment at Windermere Lodge, the SHOWER Ensuite Door System was rolled out Trust wide across their Adult and Older Adult Wards.
Trust feedback:
Since installation, the Trust has praised the product’s suitability and performance within the care setting, saying that it has successfully “increased patient and staff safety, improved privacy and dignity, and supported people with mobility if restricted or via a chair. The doors are the best on the market for IPC – easy to clean and time saving – and the robust and sturdy design with little retro fitment servicing provide less risk of damage or risk of being used inappropriately. The doorsets support patients on observations whilst maintaining their dignity and protecting them from harm.”
Designing the product:
Inspired by the needs of both clinical teams and service users, as well as having reviewed the various challenges of existing products in the market (both fixed and removable), our new anti-ligature SHOWER Ensuite Door System was designed as a fixed-to-the-frame solution to protect service user privacy while carefully managing and minimising the safety risks present in ensuite rooms.
Manufactured to the highest standards, SHOWER features a fully customisable appearance that allows for calming and therapeutic imagery to be introduced into challenging environments, delivering a degree of physical and visual quality that communicates to service users they are truly valued and cared for as individuals.
Strength & Third-Party Testing:
The SHOWER doorset has been engineered to deliver exceptional strength and robustness to minimise the risk of weaponisation and unintentional detachment. The assembly has been independently verified in third-party stress testing to comfortably withstand 3kN overextension; equivalent to 674lbs of force, or more than twice that of what alternative products of its kind have achieved to date. SHOWER’s robust nature means it can comfortably support service users as they pass through the doorway and will detach or present a trip hazard.
Minimising Weaponisation Risks:
It was critical to develop a solution that could preserve privacy and dignity while making sure the risks posed to staff and service users are kept to a minimum. In addition to the safety benefits of the doorset’s anti-ligature design, the product’s fixed-to-the-frame nature and high-strength build minimise the possibility of the assembly being detached and weaponised against staff or other service users.
