Wider beds in long-term care

This is really not an issue until we consider that an existing door is typically 36″, which leaves us with approximately 34″ of clear space for the opening. There are some larger beds being produced at 35″ wide, and these won’t fit through a typical door width unless the rails are taken off.

The obvious answer to this issue is to start specifying wider doors. However, in existing conditions this is very difficult.

My concern is that as long-term care interior designers, we rely on manufacturers to design furniture for the typical long-term care environment. What they are doing (rightly so) is designing for patient need and caregiver observations. We need to follow their lead and stop designing to code and plopping and dropping outdated unit sizes and layouts.

The British Healthcare Trades Association has highlighted the next generation of beds that moves a resident from laying to seating, assisting them to a walking position. (Click here for more details.)

If this can be done with a bed maybe we need to address the issue of doors and the fact they really haven’t changed in hundreds of years.