A lightweight and durable system for transferring deceased patients from one area to another, the XCcube ensures that respect and dignity are maintained at all times. The innovative transport system has been developed by Hospital Direct and is a simple and effective solution to the long standing issues that surround the movement of deceased individuals.
Challenges When Moving and Transporting the Deceased
The normal process when someone dies in hospital is to have them washed and wrapped in a sheet or dressed in a shroud. In many places, porters are tasked with transporting the deceased. They attend the bed with a mortuary trolley and take the individual away as respectfully as possible. Under current practice, this generally means the physical transfer between the bed and a trolley, a process which can present numerous challenges.
If it’s in the middle of the night, there can be a lot of noise, including the rattling of an old mortuary trolley, which can disturb patients on a ward. These trolleys in many hospitals are not necessarily built for people of all sizes which is why there has long been a need for a more effective transportation system.
Moving someone who is overweight can be logistically difficult and will require a number of porters. Because of the weight involved, there’s the potential for injuries because of the strain put on those doing the moving.
If someone is in a bariatric bed, of course, you may be able to use a bigger mortuary trolley and some of these are powered. However, getting these trolleys into a ward can be difficult and there’s still the problem of transferring the individual from one surface to another. While one option is to move the bariatric bed itself, there’s the question of how the deceased patient is covered as they are moved down to the mortuary.
More and more trusts nowadays are under pressure to cater for a variety of patients with different beliefs, practices and religions and getting it wrong when handling the deceased can cause distress.
What is the XCcube?
The XCcube is designed as a more dignified system for all circumstances where the deceased need to be moved. It is essentially a three dimensional cube that can be expanded over a bed, covering the deceased.
Folding down into a lightweight, easily transported pack, the XCcube can quickly be expanded and used to fully cover patients while they remain in the bed. There’s no need to move them from one surface to another and the whole process can be carried out discreetly. Once covered, the bed itself is then wheeled down to the mortuary.
The XCcube frame is made of a strong and durable material and can expand to a maximum length of 2 metres and a width of 1.2 metres. At just 8.5 kg it’s an easy system to transport from one location to another and combined with the cover can be easily fitted over a bed prior to the deceased being moved down to the mortuary.
It takes just two members of staff to fit the XCcube, whatever the size or location of the deceased. For hospitals it means that they have a system that maintains dignity and minimises disturbances for everyone. It also reduces the effort that is need to move an individual from one surface to another and helps reduce the potential for injury in moving and handling.
