Cot Door Catch
This child is unable to absorb nutrient from her gut in the normal way, so she has a permanent intravenous line to supply all her fluids and nutrition. The nurse reported that she has a specialist cot, but the doors don’t stay securely closed, so she risks pulling the line out if she tries to get out of bed.
When the engineer visited, the problem was not quite as described by the nurse. The cot has double-hinged doors: the outer leaf of the left pair was swinging on its hinges while the parents worked on her (changing her feed, fluids etc), obstructing their route to the sink, and they often hit their heads on it while fetching things from floor level.
The solution
A plastic catch was designed, made and fitted, so as to attach the outer leaf to the inner one by hooking round one of the vertical bars. When not in use the hook swings against the bars of the outer leaf to which it is attached.
The original plastic hook was not robust enough. Mum contacted us after a few weeks to say that catch had broken, and also asked if a second hook could be provided for the other door of the cot. It was replaced with an aluminium hook, and a similar hook was provided for the other side of the cot.
The benefit
Parent were able to keep the cot doors open when required, and closed when needed, preventing injury to them and their child.
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