Vanry A-2

Staff adjust every setting by hand at the bed, so there is no handset to locate, no battery to charge, and no cable to manage between patients. Staff arriving to wash, reposition or transfer a patient can set the height and sections immediately. That suits wards where staff move quickly between bedspaces, and settings where handsets tend to go missing or get damaged. The trade-off is physical effort for each adjustment, so crank effort and turns per full travel belong on the list of questions for the seller.

Photography shows all three crank handles at the foot end of the bed, which would let one staff member reach every movement from a single position. The datasheet does not state the crank location, so confirm it in the quotation. A foot-end position puts the operator away from the patient's head while the backrest moves, so staff should talk the patient through each adjustment and check lines and hands at the hinges before winding a section down.

Raise the bed for washing, dressings and linen changes, and lower it for transfers in and out. A 2014 experimental study of nursing staff found that raising the mattress to hip height significantly increased time spent working upright, with perceived exertion falling from 17.3 at knee height to 9.8 at hip height on the 15-point Borg scale. On a crank-operated bed, the benefit depends on staff taking the time to raise it, so build height changes into the ward's routine for each task.

No CPR release is listed, so a raised backrest must be wound flat by hand before chest compressions start, and the time that takes is not published. European Resuscitation Council guidance recommends that CPR be performed on a firm surface wherever possible and describes the evidence for backboards as equivocal. A manikin trial in an intensive care unit found that compression performance was worse on a bed than on the floor, regardless of the mattress. Ask the seller how many crank turns flatten the backrest from its highest position, and include that step in resuscitation training for wards using the bed.

Photography shows tubular push handles along the tops of both boards and grey corner bumpers, which would help staff steer the bed and protect door frames. Neither is listed on the datasheet, and the castor diameter and braking arrangement are not published. Ask the seller what the red-marked lever beside the foot-end castor does, and whether one control locks all four castors.

The datasheet confirms only the three functions and the overall dimensions. The photograph shows crank handles, push handles, corner bumpers, four split side rails, a slotted deck, moulded boards with blue panels, four castors, and a red-marked lever, but none of these are listed as standard supply. No mattress, infusion stand or drainage hook is listed or shown. Ask the seller to itemise every supplied part on the quotation.

In the UK, MHRA guidance (Bed rails: management and safe use) and National Patient Safety Alert NatPSA/2023/010/MHRA require an individual risk assessment before using rails, gap checks between the rail, mattress, and boards, and planned maintenance with recorded inspections. MHRA guidance advises avoiding gaps over 60 mm between the end of a rail and the headboard, and over 120 mm at any accessible opening between rail and mattress platform. Request the rail dimensions and measure them with the mattress you will actually use.

No power supply, motor or handset is listed, so the bed needs no socket and sits outside portable appliance testing. In the UK, it remains work equipment under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, which cover maintenance and staff training. LOLER applies only where lifting or lowering a load is a principal function of the equipment, and whether a height-adjustable bed meets that test is a judgement for the duty holder's competent person.

IEC 80601-2-52:2026 is the current international standard for adult medical beds, and its scope includes manual beds without electrical parts. Some declarations still cite IEC 60601-2-52:2009 with its 2015 amendment, so ask which edition the A-2 was tested against. A bed of this kind is typically Class I under UK MDR 2002, or higher depending on use; confirm this against the declaration of conformity at order. Great Britain accepts CE-marked devices under transitional arrangements. At the same time, the MHRA consults on indefinite recognition, and a manufacturer outside the UK needs a UK Responsible Person to register the device for the GB market. Conformity requirements differ by destination market, and the seller confirms what applies where the unit is going.

It lists no CPR release, so areas where cardiac arrest is frequent, such as coronary care, should weigh the time needed to flatten the backrest by hand. It lists no head-down tilt, and wards that reposition dependent patients many times a shift should weigh crank effort in their manual handling assessment. It is built for adults, and it should not be allocated to bariatric patients until a safe working load is published. Its lowest published height is 470 mm, so patients at high risk of falling from bed need an individual assessment.