Back to basics – advice from Millbrook Contract Beds on maintaining your beds – part two

Millbrook Contract Beds is getting back to basics!

In the last blog we wanted to go over the essential bed care tips that will help you maintain a better quality of care over your contract beds, whether they have been bought from us here at Millbrook, or from an alternative source. You can read the first part of this blog HERE.

In this follow-up we will continue the countdown of top tips for bed care. The mattress is one of the key factors to consider when it comes to caring for your bed, but we can’t forget about looking after the bed base itself which is the mattress’ support structure. In this second half of our list of tips we give you a little bit of info on both.

So, what happens if you’ve been sleeping in your bed for quite some time now?

Every breath you take – Did you know that your body generates over a pint of moisture during every night you are in bed? Allow your bed to breathe. By the simple act of turning down your sheets and bedding in the morning you give the bed a chance to air out and for the moisture to dissipate.

Protect and preserve – Millbrook advises that you protect your mattress with a suitable natural fibre mattress cover. This is not a technique that everyone likes to employ but it does wonders for your bed’s lifespan. The natural fibre cover helps to protect the surface of your mattress from contact with moisture and even better, it protects it from the risks of staining. Mattress covers are enormously useful in helping your mattress to stay pristine and aesthetically appealing for years to come.

What’s under the bed? – Consider what is under the bed base itself. Make sure you check to see what’s going on underneath every once in a while. Check the wheels (if it has wheels) plus castors. Avoid excessive force when you check these elements of a bed base, but still check to make sure the underneath is just as healthy and well-maintained as the mattress surface itself. Search for tears, rips and degraded materials.

Let’s call it a drawer – Not all contract beds have drawers but some do. These drawers have been designed to accommodate mostly lightweight items. The worst thing you can do is overload the drawers. Excessive weight or bulky items can cause damage to the runners and jam the drawer or simply overload the bed base itself causing other kinds of damage.

Chemical reaction – Millbrook Contract Beds strongly advises against the use of detergents and chemical cleaners on your mattress or any of the contract bed materials. You can easily bleach or disintegrate the fabric causing irreparable harm to your bed.

And those are the top tips to better bed care of your contract beds. This advice applies to individuals as well as businesses that rent rooms such as hoteliers in the hospitality industry, carers in the healthcare profession and landlords/lettings agents who rent out academic residences.

These Back to Basics tips are essential to taking care of your contract beds. Contact Us for more information on this topic. You can also follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook to keep up-to-date with the world of Millbrook Contract Beds.

Millbrook – an experienced contract bed supplier

The importance of dealing with, and buying from, an experienced contract bed supplier is paramount in today’s climate. It is all too easy to try and buy from budget sources that provide cheap construction for cheap prices. These types of contract beds and contract bed suppliers do not cater to the crucial factors needed for a good night’s sleep – comfort and quality.

Millbrook Contract Beds has over 60 years experience in the manufacture of high quality pocket spring beds. We continue to be a leading and innovative brand supplying major retail chains, hoteliers, contract clients, Governmental Departments and Health Authorities with a market leading range of beds and sleep systems. We have been a premium choice amongst a range of industries for decades. What we have learnt over this period is the importance of a perfect sleep so that guests, clients, or employees will return time and time again. Our contract beds define the comfort level of hotels; nurture the ailments of patients under care; encourage the best sleep and ultimate revitalisation of employees; and create a highly contented sleep state for the sleeper.

Over the years, and through careful analysis of client requirements, our contract bed collections and ranges have evolved. The comprehensive knowledge of today’s markets that Millbrook possesses contributes to our ability to stay ahead of our competitors. Millbrook Contract Beds product range is fully supported by professional expertise in all areas from order-tracking to quality assurance to delivery schedules. Every aspect tailor made for clients.

We provide advice for clients on the suitability of each and every bed to ensure that the right contract bed is selected from the right collection. Due to the contract beds being handmade rather than mass-produced, we accommodate to individual necessities, ideas and requests. Through our ability to deal with these special requirements, we can create and supply the most appropriate and perfectly tailored contract beds to any client’s particular need or potential necessity.

Millbrook Contract Beds supplies free, impartial advice, free site surveys and the very finest in customer service.

These are all the qualities that characterise a reliable and superior supplier.

The highest level of comfort and quality of sleep from our contract beds is our utmost priority. The benefits of a Millbrook Bed are clear, they leave the guest feeling healthy, fresh and bursting with energy to take on the new day.

A dependable contract bed supplier will recognise the significance of contract beds to your business. Avoid the pitfalls of buying them cheap from unsound, untested and unreliable sources. Millbrook Contract Beds is here to give you the chance to make an informed choice for your business and have peace of mind that your guests will be getting a peaceful night’s sleep. For further information, advice or details, contact Millbrook here.

Featured Product – The Therapy Deluxe 1400

The care sector is a particularly demanding area to manage. If you run a healthcare centre or care home then you will know that budgets are tight and stakeholder demands are high. When buying contract beds therefore, it is important for you to balance these two considerations. Beds need to be within budget and yet of a substantial build quality to withstand less-than gentle usage that clients may subject them to. Indeed, the standard of beds play a considerable part in client experience. Better quality of beds correlates with superior sleep and consequently better quality of life.

So in today’s blog, we will focus on a contract bed that will be ideal in most care scenarios. The Therapy Deluxe 1400 is an adjustable pocket spring bed that includes heat sensitive visco memory foam that is highly beneficial to health and fully responsive to body contours. A five way adjustable position, operated by handset control. The model also has a massage option, which will provide a therapeutic means of helping clients to gain a sense of well-being by assisting relaxation and ultimately sleep. For mature clients who have time for relaxation convalescence, quality and comfort are a priority, and this bed provides both. So if you manage a care home and need to balance budget with quality to ensure the well-being of those in your charge, then the Therapy Deluxe is the choice for you.

If you feel that this bed will suit you and your client’s needs then why not use our online purchasing system to customise your choice and to calculate the unit cost.  As an example we have chosen both the single and super king bed with divan and standard mattress options.

Care contract bed Option 1: The Therapy Deluxe 1400 – Single

Mattress Option – Single

Mattress Comfort – Standard

Divan Option – Platform 3’0

Cost – £293.75 (minus VAT)

Care contract bed Option 2: The Therapy Deluxe 1400 – Super King

Mattress Option – Super King

Mattress Comfort – Standard

Divan Option – Platform 3’0

Cost – £715.00 (minus VAT)

These are both amazing prices for contract beds of this quality. Moreover, the Therapy Deluxe 1400 will provide comfort, relaxation and help to ensure the well-being of your clients. Not only will your clients be delighted by the comfort and build quality, but these factors will also assure their relatives that you have their loved-ones best interests in mind.

Rising costs and their effects on hotel contract beds

For those in the hospitality and healthcare industry, whether that’s as a large hotel owner, the healthcare management profession or indeed anywhere that has use for some kind of commercial bed it is probably not the best news to hear that the cost of cotton has been steadily rising since the beginning of this year and is now at an all time high.

In fact, to the end of November of last year, cotton itself rose by over 70% and this not surprisingly has had an effect on the cost of cotton sheets which go on contract beds, which now on average cost over 35% more than they did a year ago.

While this may seem trivial, when it comes to contract bed /commercial bed owners, this does put extra pressure on the budget, especially if you have a 100 bedroom hotel and need to replace the linen regularly or are a large, independent healthcare provider with a high demand on laundry services.

The reason it will put the pressure on is because your commercial laundry provider will potentially need to increase their prices to you  in order to sustain the same level of quality and service and for some, to even stay in business.

With industries that require a fairly substantial supply of cotton based essentials, it’s easy to see how this may affect a multitude of areas within your daily business running – and in particular the hotel industry  – which relies on positive feedback from clients to increase or sustain occupancy rates.

So, here at Millbrook Contract Beds, we thought it would be an idea to consider the impact of cotton price increases – so where possible, if you do need to replace materials, you’ll at least be able to save some money elsewhere and if you’re a smaller bed and breakfast owner, we’ve also come up with a few tips on looking after your linen – as it is most likely that you do a considerable amount of laundry yourself.

So, if you’re a larger business our best advice is to liaise closely with your laundry service provider as you may be able to agree things like fixed rates over a longer-term, which will help sustain their business but it will also sustain your quality of service.

After all, no one likes worn down towels or linen – we all want a bit of luxury so it’s in your interest to work with your laundry to help them stay in business!  This advice has been mirrored throughout the commercial bed sector, so it’s worth taking note!

If you’re a smaller bed and breakfast or healthcare management professional, then you can follow our short guide below and hopefully get a longer life from your towels, which will save you money over the course of the year and beyond.

So what can you do?

If you do need to replace your cotton towels / sheets, it’s far better to go for quality – so choosing things like Egyptian Cotton will keep your linen looking fresher for longer.

It may sound obvious, but it’s worth checking those labels BEFORE washing.  We know you’re busy, but assuming that cotton can be consistently washed on 60 degrees with no detrimental effect is probably not wise and therefore you may want to try and create a laundry regime that ensures your linen is rotated regularly.

One really good tip as well, is to use only half the detergent that the manufacturer recommends.  This may not seem sensible but very often residue is left if you use a lot of detergent which will reduce the lifespan of the cotton.

Also, avoid drying your towels fully in a tumble dryer.  This does wear down the cotton over time and will result in holes!

Finally, if you can (and we know this isn’t always possible) try and hang them for a natural drying session in the sunshine.  This is by far the best way to preserve your cotton for a lot longer.

Revisiting the Millbrook Contract Beds collections – Healthcare

For those just catching up with us on the blog we have spent the last couple of articles revisiting our contract bed collections here at Millbrook in anticipation of the predicted busyness of 2012. We went over the International Collection and its fitting selection of hotel contract beds and then we moved on to the Academic Collection and it’s suitability for that particular industry. Read those blogs by clicking on the links for HOTEL or for ACADEMIC. Continue reading »

The truth about contract beds – Budget cuts in the healthcare industry

The health of an individual is one of the most important things there is.  There are many factors that dictate the overall health and well-being of a person, but one particular such factor that we specialise in, is comfort. We take the rest and recovery of patients very, very seriously.

In past blogs, Millbrook Contract Beds has engaged with the issues facing the healthcare industry in terms of looking after people who suffer from ailments or illness; from those in residential care to those in hospital. In recent news, it has been reported that planned cost-cutting measures will savage the healthcare industry quite badly in the coming months. The plan is to see more patients treated at home instead of hospital, and even cuts to jobs and beds in the hospitals themselves has not been ruled out either. Health trusts and government studies show that the quickest way to have an impact on reducing budgets is staff. The potential impact on patient care is substantial thanks to these budget cuts (necessary or not).

If more patients are due to get their treatment at home and not in a hospital or healthcare residence then it is highly likely that the demand for better equipped home care contract bedroom furniture will be required. So as budget cuts look set to scale back on the number of beds available to residents and patients, Millbrook would like to assure people that it is always here as an alternative support for healthcare contract bed solutions.

This is the truth about what we do…

We provide industries with ways of taking care of the people they put up for a night, a week, a month, or even indefinitely. Our contract beds are about enduring and providing uncompromising comfort for those that are guests, patients or residents.

Millbrook Contract Beds specialises in healthcare contract beds and has been supplying the healthcare industry and professions with our expertise and products for a good 60 years now. Our belief is that if patients need expert care then substandard surroundings just will not do, especially if they will be treated from home.

The two contract beds we offer for this industry are The Therapy and The Purity.

Without performing a live demonstration, we cannot fully express here just how advanced and superior these healthcare beds are for people for need to experience varying degrees of comfort, independence and assistance.

For instance, The Therapy is the finest adjustable contract bed available as far as we’re concerned! Its control function is a five way adjustable positioning system that can be operated via handset control giving complete autonomy to the user. With an added massage option it really is the cutting edge. It sums up the three ‘R’ words; recline, relaxation and recovery.

We’ll have to wait and see how these budget cuts affect the healthcare industry and what consequences they may have on quality of patient care but Millbrook Contract Beds will always be able to provide a safety net when it comes to home care alternatives with our contract bed options.

Quality of care with Millbrook Contract Beds

The media spotlight has been on the healthcare industry for the past few months, particularly adult social care homes. Reports of mismanagement and poor quality care for elderly or disabled residents in a very small minority of care homes were hot potato topics in the news early this year, prompting the need on behalf of regulatory bodies and the government to have a review of the healthcare industry as a whole.

Millbrook Contract Beds has been researching national statistics that show a steep rise in the demand for adult social care, yet more cutbacks in this area and recent controversy over the suitability of some care facilities have not helped matters improve.

When it comes to taking care of people there needs to be an emphasis on the quality of care more than anything else. Unfortunately, budgetary restrictions can equal a limited number of options for healthcare professionals. However, there is a solution to one piece of this puzzling dilemma.

Our Healthcare Collection has been designed to be ideal for both care and residential homes as well as provide a cost effective solution to help combat affordability restrictions. Our 60 years plus experience has given us a great deal of time to communicate with and understand the healthcare industry, its needs and its necessities.

Pundits have stated that the key to improved quality of care in homes across the UK is dependent upon the use of modernised, sanitary facilities and fully trained and experienced care workers. Of course one of the most important factors in any care home is the contract bedroom furniture. This is after all supposed to be a home to its residents. One of the most shocking things seen in the documentaries and news reports about the state of a minority care homes for the elderly and the disabled was the condition of some of the rooms. Second hand furniture, unwashed bedding, collapsing bed frames, filthy floors and walls, not enough space per room etc. These are such crucial parts to maintaining a person’s well-being, dignity and overall health that they should not be considered as trivial things.

Millbrook Contract Beds has always manufactured its contract beds with due attention to the people each collection is designed for – in the case of our Healthcare Collection our task was to design beds that would be the optimal choices for those who needed support, comfort and control during recovery and rest. The Therapy presents an exemplary example of how a bed for healthcare industries should function. It is an adjustable pocket spring bed that includes het sensitive memory foam and fully responds to body contours. Its five-way adjustable position operated by a handset control gives the freedom of control back to the user. The massage option is a fantastic addition to this bed that helps to sooth and relax.

The Therapy Contract Bed

In a time when care homes need all the help they can get in order to run efficiently and operate to the best of their capabilities, Millbrook Contract Beds is always available to give its advice on improving the quality of rest and recovery with our Healthcare Collection and experience with the industry. Contact Us if you would like to know more.

We are also on Facebook and Twitter, please join in with our discussions there.

A Contract Bed Guide – Millbrook Blog Recap Part 2

In the previous blog Millbrook Contract Beds began the process of recapping our blog archives to act as an index for all the information we have imparted to readers thus far. Since December 2010 we have engaged with topics that have covered the spectrum of hospitality, healthcare and academic industries in order to present rich and detailed information about the bed buying world.

Today’s blog continues the recap of our archive as to provide you with a comprehensive contract bed guide that will help to answer many of your questions and address the fundamental facts about our business and the industries we cater to.

1. 8. Quality contract beds should offer economical value:

The discussion and analysis of our contract bed ranges became an ongoing series of blogs that explained the benefits of our International Collection – specifically profiling the features of The Club Class.

1. 9. The Hotel contract bed – information for buyers:

The series of blogs on our International Collection continued with an insight into why The Hotel contract bed was such a popular choice for the hospitality and hotel industry. The idea was to explain how this particular range of beds could be used for a business in terms of economy and practicality.

1. 10. Contract beds for the Healthcare Industry Part 1:

Having detailed the importance of the International Collection to hotel industries, we transitioned into the healthcare industry. The difference between beds for hotels and beds for healthcare residences and care facilities was made clear by looking at The Therapy contract bed and its uses for this particular sector.

1. 11. Contract beds for the Healthcare Industry Part 2

The Healthcare Collection extended itself to not just The Therapy contract bed but also The Purity. The primary focus in this second part was to feature the functionality, design and benefits of The Purity so it could be utilised for the right people – namely mature persons, or those that were afflicted with disabilities or in ill health.

1. 12. Contract beds for the Academic and Conference Industry

The blogging perspective shifted to the next Millbrook bed range – the Academic Collection. The profile for The Conference contract bed began to take shape and the necessity of beds such as this within the industry was made paramount. The Academic Collection was introduced as an optimum solution for space-saving designs and the perfect choice in economical beds.

1. 13. Buying a contract bed in the UK

Following up from The Conference contract bed was a blog that specified the benefits of space-saving sleeping solutions in the form of The Residence contract bed.

1. 14. From conference to academia – a contract bed guide

Completing this particular series on Millbrook’s contract bed ranges and the Academic Collection was the last profile on the high quality, value for money contract bed, The Campus. Its numerous uses and features were listed and a tidy conclusion was brought to our contract bed range series.

But the list does not end there. These first 14 blogs were designed to give readers and customers a basic overview of what Millbrook contract beds was about, what products we offered and how our experience dealing with a multitude of industries and businesses gave us the appropriate qualifications and the upper hand over our competitors. The real juicy articles and information came after.

Keep your eyes out for the next part in our Contract Bed Guide series as we take a trip down memory lane to unearth the information that might have passed you by.

For further information on any of our ranges or for general contract bed buying advice please Contact Us. Remember, Millbrook contract beds is on Twitter and Facebook. You can find us there.

Adjustable contract beds make a big difference in the healthcare industry

Residential homes and care facilities for the elderly or the sick have been in the news a lot recently for all sorts of reasons. One of the primary issues raised about today’s healthcare services in UK was quality of care. This is of course crucial to any area of the healthcare industry. Millbrook contract beds has been manufacturing and supplying industries like this for over 60 years now and we have come to understand how to produce the finest quality contract beds for residential and private care.

Why is the contract bed so important in this industry?

Our experience in the hospitality sector differs somewhat to our experience in the healthcare sector as the requirements of a healthcare contract bed over a hotel bed are quite substantial. As a residential home or care facility it is important to prioritise what is needed from the beds in terms of function. Luxury and refinement are important in contract bedroom furniture but when it comes to care and the nursing of illness or ailments it has to be more than just a bed.

Millbrook’s design philosophy has created and crafted the Healthcare Collection with this in mind.

Healthcare industry contract beds

What makes these contract beds ideal for healthcare?

The Healthcare collection enhances and adjusts the bed experience so they become more than just a bed for sleeping in. The discerning contract bed buyer will know that quality and comfort should never be compromised regardless of industry or budget.

The Purity and The Therapy are adjustable bed models that have opulent action features and choices of comfort levels so they can be attuned to an individual’s requirements. This five-way adjustable action system comes with an integral handset control so it can be operated by whoever is using it standing up or lying down. This basically gives control and freedom to whoever is using the bed, or allows for the carer to control the movement of the contract bed if required. At the push of a button the supportive position that is required for the person using it can be effortlessly achieved.

The Therapy contract bed

The beds that are used in these facilities, hospitals and homes need to be of the best possible design and meet a high standard of quality and functionality. Those that suffer from physical ailments, disabilities, back pains or illnesses will find their waking lives much easier to handle. With technology allowing us to control so many aspects of our daily lives, Millbrook’s Healthcare Collection gives that control back to those who may have lost it to some extent. Fingertip control functions gives free reign over how they sleep or relax with an added massage option from The Purity contract bed that has been designed to rub down pains and aches while The Therapy has been specifically designed to facilitate good health with full responsiveness to body contour moulding.

The Purity contract bed

Why choose Millbrook?

Millbrook contract beds have benefited both hospitality and healthcare industries for many years and we are always recognising that individual requirements need to be considered and catered to. Our Healthcare Collection is about providing the right level of comfort, quality and most importantly, control, to people that are of an older age or people who suffer from a disability or an illness.

For further information on our collections see our Collections specifications page or if you would like more advice on contract beds and the industries we work with please contact us and we will be happy to assist you.

Contract Bed Guide: More advice from Millbrook Contract Beds

Just over a couple of weeks ago, we conducted a mini-poll to find out what hoteliers expect from their contract beds.  You can read the blog here.

To continue the theme, we thought it would be interesting to follow-up on the blog.  So, we have been busy getting feedback and updates from the hoteliers we spoke to and are also pleased to say that since our blog, some of them have been looking at their contract bed regime!

As we wrote in our initial blog, a lot of hotels share a common desire when it comes to their contract beds and look for quality that is not only visually appealing but that is also highly practical to their needs.

One hotelier subsequently commented that:

“When it comes to the difference between bed and breakfasts and four or five star high end hotels, I think the line has been blurred a lot more.  These days, people want more for their money, so when I buy something like a contract bed, I try to get the very best for my budget as I’m competing with the very best five star hotels in my mind”.

What this appears to suggest is that quality offered by high end hotels is also just as applicable to a smaller bed and breakfast and thus with a contract bed  – the price you pay is just as important for a small establishment as it is for a bigger one.

Since doing our mini-poll, three hotels have said they have re-evaluated their regime when it comes to their hotel contract beds.  Whereas previously, they maintained the highest standards of cleanliness, ensuring that the beds were of course cleaned regularly, they have now started to look at finding ways to make sure that they are consistently providing the best. If this means looking at general wear and tear more often or ensuring the turning of the contract mattresses are done more regularly, they want to try and deliver and of course maintain the quality for all their guests for years to come.

One hotel in particular has now looked at finding more space saving options since they didn’t actually there was a solution for this that didn’t mean they would need to offer something rickety and unstable. Essentially, there is quality available for contract beds that are designed for periodic use so you can continue with top quality provision.

Most of the hoteliers said they would now be making it policy to turn the contract mattresses at least once a month – if not more during the summer months to ensure optimum quality sleep time for their guests as they had to admit that previously they were not always so good at doing this to a strict regime.

In view of these results, we thought it would be a good idea to do some further research on going and have arranged with five bed and breakfasts and three of the hotels originally spoken with, to collate both their positive feedback and any negative feedback for the next six weeks.

They have agreed to follow some of our standard maintenance guidelines and we hope to bring you the results at the end of our research, which will of course be published on our blog.

Millbrook Contract Beds have over 60 years experience in supplying top quality contract beds to the hospitality, health and academic industries, so do contact us if you require any information about your contract beds.

Alternatively, you might like to follow us on Twitter, where you can get information and of course tell us what you like about your own contract beds!