Therapist:

“OK Joanne, what we are going to do today is go through the process of how Fran will transfer from the bed to her wheelchair.” “OK” “Now one of the main things we need to do Fran is make sure you are as far forward as possible on the bed so that it makes the transfer that wee bit easier.” “So if you can just get yourself forward to the edge of the bed.” “That’s excellent.” “Now we just need to bring the wheelchair in Joanne.” “Now one of the main things we need to do is get the wheelchair as close as possible to the bed, OK.” “So in order to do that we need to probably remove the footplates.” “Now some wheelchairs have footplates which swing out to the side and that can sometimes give you as close to the bed as possible.” “But some wheelchairs don’t, so it’s always best I feel to remove the footplates out the way.” “We’ll just take those footplates off.” “That will then allow us to bring the wheelchair in nice and snugly to the bed.” “Then we just need to pop the brakes on at that point so that it’s nice and steady.” “OK we then want to remove or on this wheelchair we can actually slide.” “The side of the chair comes back to this point so it’s not actually been removed.” “But, again on some wheelchairs you might need to take the whole side of the chair out,” “Ok but on this particular one it slides back to give access in.” “OK Fran, what we’re going to do next is we’re going to pop the slide board in, just to make the transfer from the bed to the chair nice and smoothly for you OK” “So what I need you to do is take your weight gently over to your left hand side so that I can put the board in under your right hip.” “OK is that comfortable for you Fran?”

Fran:

“Yes”

Therapist:

“OK now at this point Joanne, it’s now over to Fran who is going to transfer from the bed over on to the chair and she can do that really well on her own.” “But I would say it’s better to always have someone there at this stage, just in case you need a wee bit of assistance or a bit of confidence just along the way.” “But you are really not needing to pop your hands on; you just need to be in front of Fran at this point.” “So Fran you’re going to gently edge your hips along the transfer board.” “Now where you’ve popped your hand is probably not the best place to put your hand because your fingers are underneath the board.” “And as soon as you put weight onto the board, your fingers will get caught between the board and the wheelchair.” “So just have them towards the edge but not across the edge of the board.” “Now very short, small movements across the board Fran whenever you are ready.” “That’s excellent.” “And again.” “Super now stop there.” “Now what you can do at this point is bring your hand up on to the arm of the chair and you can use that just to guide yourself slowly in to the chair.” “So Fran is controlling this manoeuvre very, very well.” “Now do you feel like you could take your hips slightly further back in to the chair?” “And again it’s a nice manoeuvre, both sides going back in to the chair.” “Now we need to remove the board.” “So Fran can take her weight over on to her right hip again and we can very gently remove the board.” “Are you comfortable Fran?”

Fran:

“Yes”

Therapist:

“OK so all that’s left to do now is we need to put the side back down on the chair and the footplates back on.” “So if we put the side down first.” “Make sure that’s secure in place.” “Then we just need to get the footplates and put them back on.” “Bring you foot forward for me Fran, excellent.” “And then your left one.” “OK, well done.” “And just making sure her heels are well back on to the supports there at the back of the footplates.” “And then we can just release the brakes on the chair and Fran is set to go.”