Surgery Prescribes movemanSKG!

Salisbury House Surgery and a neighbouring chemist have spent over £500,000 amalgamating and expanding their premises in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. Local building contractor C Wood & Son specified two movemanSKG platform lifts to ensure accessibility for people with mobility problems.

Originally, the chemist was next door but one to Salisbury House Surgery in a row of adjoining buildings, with a vacant property in between. After acquiring the vacant property, the chemist appointed C Wood & Son to manage the project.

Experienced and highly competent in such tasks, C Wood & Son took the separating walls down on the ground floor to lengthen the chemist and join it with the surgery. It also extended the surgery on the first and second floors to occupy the space above the chemist.

Residing in a shallow pit with its own integral shaft, movemanSKG’s Prestige platform lift travels 6.8 metres and connects the newly renovated building’s three floors. Because the surgery and the property next door are built on different levels the storeys are staggered. This means Prestige is a six stop unit.

Stop one at ground level is the surgery reception. The chemist’s shop floor is on stop two and surgery consulting rooms occupy stops three and four. Stops five and six are new administration offices.

Salisbury House Surgery’s Prestige features controlled acceleration and deceleration to eliminate jolting between landings and moves smoothly between levels, providing a comfortable ride for wheelchair users. The unit lifts up to 400kg and has a 1650 x 1450mm footprint, which means it fits snugly in the allotted space.

Patients enter the chemist through the main entrance and climb two steps to reach the shop floor. movemanSKG’s Premier Plus inclined platform lift travels up the wall on a track, enabling less able people to overcome this small change in floor levels. Wheelchair users access the platform via mechanical ramps, which fold up automatically to form wheel stops when the lift is in motion and automatically lower again at the appropriate landing.

Premier Plus’s compact dimensions make it ideal for applications with limited space. When not in use, the platform folds up to leave stairs unobstructed for pedestrians. Premier Plus is cost-effective, quick to install, and lifts 150kg up to 2880mm. Electro-hydraulically operated, it runs quietly without disturbing other employees.

Brian Waller, Project Manager at C Wood & Son who oversaw the building work, is delighted; "The buck stops with us so it essential we choose the right sub-contractors, especially on a job as big as this one. movemanSKG provided a highly competitive quote and supplied two reliable platform lifts that perform wonderfully despite rigorous use. The advice we received was friendly and professional, the installation swift and seamless."

He continues; "C Wood & Son is a safety conscious company and any product we use must be CE approved to certify it meets the relevant European standards. Both platform lifts carry the CE mark. Prestige has doors that lock automatically when the platform is in motion to prevent people entering the shaft, a peripheral safety edge that halts the unit if it encounters an object or person, and a hand winding system in case of power failure. Premier Plus has an excellent range of safety features too. We will invite movemanSKG to tend for future lift projects!"

Thanks to movemanSKG, Salisbury House Surgery and the adjoining chemist can accommodate less able patients and employees. The lifts also ensure compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), which is a legal requirement for all service providers.

"movemanSKG did an outstanding job", says Salisbury House Surgery’s Deputy Practice Manager Jean George. "The platform lifts are easy to operate and make our premises accessible to wheelchair users. Prestige particularly impresses us. It has a modern contemporary finish, which looks attractive in the surgery’s refurbished interior, and is a cost effective choice compared to installing a conventional passenger lift. I feel we received excellent value for money."

Salisbury House Surgery’s extension is good news for patients. The extra space will allow the surgery to take on more doctors and work efficiently, resulting in reduced waiting times for appointments. The new building is well-lit, well-ventilated, and extremely comfortable. In addition, patients can now walk straight through the surgery and in to the chemist to collect their prescriptions without having to brave the elements!