Forté Sovereign SM6 Ventraflow 165kg Pressure Care Mental Health Mattress

ANTI-LIGATURE

The environment in a mental health facility, correctional facility, group home, or any application where safety and security can often feel isolated and confined, leaving residents in a fragile state. In these environments, everyday items, even something like bedsheets, could be seen as a means of harm, either to oneself or to others.

That is what makes anti-ligature furniture in correctional facilities, psychiatric facilities and behavioural health facilities critical. Whether it’s a piece of resident room furniture, like a mattress, or dining room furniture such as a dining table, furniture in these applications must be designed to prevent injury to self or others and must have absolutely no areas where any object can be tied to.

Mental health standards specify support surfaces must be anti-ligature. An anti-ligature product is one that reduces the risk of self-harm through strangulation, by making it as difficult as possible to secure a cord or other material in place. Ligature resistant mattresses do not contain any points where cords, ropes, or even bedsheets can be attached.

Hanging or strangulation is the most common method of suicide for patients in psychiatric care (used in approximately 75% of cases), so minimising ligature risks is a key area of concern for care providers.

To achieve an anti-ligature mattress, the cover must be fully sealed and enclosed with no zip or means of access inside the cover. The cover must be constructed with welded seams and reinforced with stitching on the underside of the cover for ultimate seam strength. Strong seams and cover construction, as well as heavy duty fabrics, ensure the support surface is pickproof to prevent the concealment of contraband and protect against any foam core damage.

It is important to understand that a ligature resistant support surface should not be taken lightly. While inmate and patient mattresses may seem like something insignificant when compared to other obstacles, it is in fact one of the most crucial parts in ensuring a safe and healthy environment. There are many challenges when designing behavioural health and correctional facilities because they must have an atmosphere that is aesthetically pleasing and welcoming, in order to support the healing process, and keep vulnerable residents safe and well. Research by professionals has proved by removing access to any method where self-harm can occur is effective in its prevention.

A well-built anti-ligature mattress should give you peace of mind, knowing your residents and staff can remain comfortable and safe!

FIRE RETARDANT

The mental health care environment has patients with special needs that may differ from the acute care environment. Patients typically suffer mental illnesses which is a health condition that involves changes in emotion, thinking or behaviour (and/or a combination of these). Mental illnesses are associated with distress and/problems functioning in social, work or family activities. There can be a lot of risks involved with patients that have poor mental health – including self and property harm, for example, risk of fire.

As such, it is a standard for mental health medical equipment for all equipment to be anti-ligature and fire retardant.

For a mattress or support surface to truly meet mental health standards, All materials used must be fire retardant, including what is inside the cover.

What does Fire Retardant mean? A fire retardant is a substance that is used to slow down or stop the spread of fire or reduce its intensity. This is commonly accomplished by chemical reactions that reduce the flammability of fuels or delay their combustion.

All foams used in Forté mental health mattresses meet BS5852 Source 5 Specification. Covers meet BS 6807 ignition source 5 and BS 7175 ignition source 5 standards.

What is BS5852 Source 5 Specification?

Test methods for assessing the ignitability of covers and fillings used in upholstered products such as mattresses, by smouldering and flaming ignition sources

BS5852 is a British Standard that describes methods for assessing the ignitability of single material combinations, e.g. cover and foam core of a mattress, when subjected either to a smouldering cigarette or to flaming ignition sources of thermal output ranging from that of a burning match to that approximating to the burning of four double sheets of full-size newspaper, as might be applied accidentally to any item of furniture.

Source five is one out of seven ignition sources of the BS5852;

What is BS 7175 ignition source 5 Specification?

Methods of test for the ignitability of bedcovers and pillows by smouldering and flaming ignition sources. BS 7175 describes methods of test for the ignitability of bedcovers and pillows when subjected to smouldering and flaming types of ignition sources of differing severities.

Source five uses a wood crib 5. A crib is composed of wooden planks glued together. Lint is attached to the bottom. After adding propane-diol, the crib is placed on the test rig and ignited with a match. If no flaming or progressive smouldering is observed on both cover and foam core, the test is recorded as no ignition and the material passes the test.

VENTRAFLOW® FOAM TECHNOLOGY

With a marketing leading CNC machine, Forté has the in-house capacity to develop and produce engineered foams that can be used to offer unique features and functions within a mattress.

Each mattress within the Sovereign High Care range includes an engineered foam layer to provide deep immersion, tailored envelopment and enhanced micro-climate.

The engineered foam is often referred to as ‘castellated’ or ‘modulated’, whereby foam is cut into unique shapes – typically small cells in a grid-like pattern.

Forté engineered foams are zoned to provide optimal envelopment alongside stability where it is needed for critical body regions. i.e. larger cells in the sacrum, smaller cells in the Heel region, medium-sized cells for the scapular region.

The secondary immersion layer of the Sovereign SM6 mattress has an engineered foam technology called Ventraflow. Distinctive to Ventraflow is the shape of each castellation – in almost a key-whole shape.

The Ventraflow design has several unique functions:

• creates lateral and longitudinal air channels throughout the mattress which facilitate free movement of air throughout the foam core, improving internal micro-climate conditions and reducing risk of ‘hot-spots’.

• enhances envelopment which provides the support surface with maximum surface area for the individual, providing optimal pressure redistribution.

• each cell has a 180° pivot point which increases lateral flexibility and lessens internal tension throughout the surface. Reducing tension also increases the longevity of the mattress.

THE COVER – PRESSURE CARE OR DAMAGE RESISTANT

In the mental health setting, the first question to ask is what is more important – pressure care & comfort, or, damage resistance & safety.

Supplied as standard with a Fully Sealed & Enclosed Premiflex Premium Breathe Pressure Care Cover, The Sovereign Mental Health Mattresses have been designed to offer pressure care & comfort. Sovereign Mental Health Pressure Care mattresses meet all mental health standards and are still damage resistant and safe in the mental health application to some extent.

A cover must be vapour permeable and have stretch to be classified as a pressure care cover. As such you should not opt for a pressure care cover if your client needs a mattress that is 100% waterproof due to severe incontinence or risk of being in contact with fluids often, and a mattress that is highly durable.

Damage resistant covers are made from Heavy Duty PVC. PVC is durable and comes in varying weights or thicknesses. The Forté range of PVC covers varies from 320g (PVC1100) to 1050g (PVC1140). PVC1140 is the strongest, most durable PVC currently available on the market.