Steelcase partners with UK manufacturer to combat health care-associated infections

Steelcase partners with UK manufacturer to combat health care-associated infections
<strong> Courtesy Steelcase </strong>

A new partnership between a Grand Rapids-based furniture and design company and a portable partition manufacturer plans to help increase patient and provider safety in hospitals. 

Steelcase Health, a division of the Steelcase brand, last week announced its partnership with U.K.-based portable partition manufacturer KwickScreen to combat the spread of health care-associated infections (HAIs) and offer more diverse solutions to medical facilities. 

KwickScreen, founded in 2011 and headquartered in London, focuses on creating flexible privacy partitions to help hospitals adapt to patient needs while minimizing the risk of infections spreading in the hospital space. The screens keep patients, caretakers and staff safe by providing more control and flexibility than traditional hospital curtains. 

KwickScreen designers worked with microbiologists to engineer the screens with a single touchpoint, making them easy to clean with standard medical cleaning products. Offerings include portable, retractable, fixed-to-wall, free-standing and pop-up solutions, accommodating the various needs of health care facilities and allowing easy space reconfiguration on demand. 

Screens are flexible and can be reconfigured as needs change. They can be moved by one person and set up in minutes. A variety of options are available for waiting rooms, vaccination cubicles and patient rooms.

Steelcase Health’s new partnership with KwickScreen will help reshape hospital spaces and reduce the risk of HAIs such as COVID-19, tuberculosis and measles, among others. 

According to the World Health Organization, 7% of hospital patients in high-income countries will acquire at least one HAI during their hospital stay. The statistic jumps to 15% of hospital patients in low- and middle-income countries. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) attributes HAIs to approximately 722,000 infections and 75,000 deaths each year in the U.S. alone, as well as $28 billion–33 billion in excess costs.  

As KwickScreen joins the Steelcase Health brand portfolio, the two companies hope to reduce the risk of infection in American hospitals. Its products are now available for purchase through 270 Steelcase-authorized dealer locations in the U.S. 

“We’re delighted to partner with KwickScreen as our customers are looking for ways to provide healthier outcomes for their clinicians and patients,” said Pamela Krill, director of product marketing for Steelcase Health. “Finding new solutions to prevent HAIs has been at the forefront of the work KwickScreen has done for more than a decade, and we look forward to providing all who work or visit health care facilities increased protection.” 

Kwickscreen products also help bring life to sterile hospital environments with a wide range of artwork that can be applied to their portable screens. Screens can be customized to patients’ preferences, giving patients a way to control their environment, easing anxiety and stress that often comes with a hospital stay. 

“KwickScreen was founded in direct response to the shortcomings of other industry solutions to privacy and infection control in the hospital,” said Alan Murrell, CEO of KwickScreen. “Each screen we’ve developed showcases how thoughtful design can improve flexibility and infection mitigation efforts. The combined expertise of KwickScreen and Steelcase is a great step forward in helping reduce the risk of additional health complications in medical facilities across the U.S.” 

Currently, KwickScreen systems have been supplied to every National Health Service trust in the U.K., over 250 hospitals in the U.S. and over 15 other countries. More about KwickScreen’s products is here.