What Is a Hospital Lift? Standard Sizes and Key Features

A hospital is a place that sees a great many people. Most of us go to a hospital when we have a health problem, and on top of that there are accidents and sudden injuries. It is well known that hospital staff lead busy lives, because they are constantly called away to treat patients and have to travel up and down in lifts almost all the time. The lifts have to be available 24 hours a day, every day, so that patient care can always be prioritised.

In this article we look at what a hospital lift is and what features it needs to have.

1. What Is a Hospital Lift?

A hospital lift is a lift used to help move patients, materials and equipment between floors in a hospital. It can be installed anywhere in the building that suits the layout, and it comes in many sizes depending on the requirement. Both staff and patients can use a hospital lift, because it gives safe access to every part of the building. It is also known as a bed lift, used to transport patients between floors.

Before choosing and buying a lift, we need to consider carefully which type of lift we need and whether that lift can meet the requirement. Knowing the types of lift available is therefore very important.

Medical lifts, which carry beds, stretchers and medical transport equipment, need to be long and able to take a heavy load.

2. Key Features of a Hospital Lift and Standard Sizes

A hospital lift serves medical staff and many different types of patient. The hospital departments involved, together with the architects or engineers designing the hospital, can select the lift that best matches their needs, taking into account load capacity, size, ease of installation and the space available for it. The key features and dimensions of a hospital lift can be referenced from the Design Manual for Healthcare Facility Buildings and Environments, as set out below.

What Key Features Does a Hospital Lift Have?

1. An appropriate size and number of lifts for the intended use
2. Where patients have to be moved by wheelchair and / or gurney, the car and the doors must be of a suitable size and wide enough for a wheelchair and / or patient bed to be rolled in easily
3. The inside of the car must be clean, well lit and free of damp, with an effective ventilation system as well as a system for communicating with people outside in the event of a breakdown
4. The travel control unit must be fitted with a Safety Device system and an Automatic Rescue Device system
5. The equipment inside must be in good condition and kept properly maintained at all times
6. The lift lobby must be spacious enough for waiting, allow patient beds to pass one another, and have suitable, sufficient lighting

What Size Is a Hospital Lift?

1. The lift car must be at least 1,100 millimetres wide and at least 1,400 millimetres long
2. The lift doorway must have a clear width of at least 900 millimetres and must have a light-beam system to stop the doors trapping passengers
3. There must be a tactile surface on the floor in front of the lift doors, 300 millimetres wide and 900 millimetres long, set back at least 300 millimetres but no more than 600 millimetres from the lift doors
4. The lift call buttons, the car control buttons and the emergency alarm button must have the following characteristics
   1. The lowest button must be at least 900 millimetres above the floor, the highest button no more than 1,200 millimetres above the floor, and at least 400 millimetres from the internal corner of the car where the car is less than 1,500 millimetres wide and long
   2. Each button must be at least 20 millimetres in diameter and marked with Braille, and pressing it must produce both a sound and a light
   3. There must be no obstruction in front of the lift buttons
5. There must be handrails around the inside of the car, of the type specified in the section on ramps
6. There must be numerals and a voice announcement giving the floor position when the lift stops and when it travels up or down
7. There must be signs showing the floor number and direction in the lobby in front of the lift doors, mounted where they are clearly visible
8. If the lift breaks down there must be both an audible alarm and a flashing red warning light, so that people with visual impairments and people with hearing impairments are alerted, plus a flashing green light to signal to people with hearing impairments that those outside know about the breakdown and help is on the way
9. There must be an emergency telephone inside the car that can reach the outside, positioned at least 900 millimetres but no more than 1,200 millimetres above the floor
10. There must be a system that brings the lift to the ground-floor landing, plus lift doors meeting the Safety Standard, a load capacity and size able to take patients and medical equipment, an emergency backup power system and a telephone

3. What Drive Systems Do Hospital Lifts Use?

In general there is no rule that a hospital lift has to use one particular system. It depends on the height of the building, its size and how it is used. Here are the systems a hospital lift can run on.

Hydraulic Lifts

The hydraulic system. These lifts use the compression of a fluid to create movement, and the fluid needed to drive a hydraulic lift has to be primarily oil. They suit buildings of up to 6 floors, which makes them a good fit for hospitals that are not high-rise.

Cable Traction Lifts

This is a lift with a belt that moves it up and down through an electric pulley connected to an electric motor, with a gear system controlling the balance of the movement. This type of lift suits tall buildings with many floors, which makes it a good fit for high-rise hospitals.

Screw-Drive Lifts

One of the simplest and strongest lift systems is the screw-and-nut drive, made up of a motor, a large drive nut, a threaded steel column and a power supply. A screw-driven lift saves space and cuts installation costs. It suits buildings of up to 6 floors, which makes it a good fit for hospitals that are not high-rise and that value good looks along with durability and strength.

4. Which Cibes Model Works Best as a Hospital Lift?

4.1 Hospital Lift: Cibes Extra

A large platform lift, ideal for places that need to carry a lot in one trip. The lift takes a load of 1,000 kilograms and needs a pit of only 1300 mm with no concrete shaft, so it uses less space than a typical large lift. In use in hospitals, it offers a roomy car interior and a high load capacity, which makes it suitable for many kinds of business such as hotels, healthcare facilities, showrooms and industrial plants.

4.2 Hospital Lift: Cibes Air

The Cibes Air home lift uses Scandinavian design and technology to blend seamlessly into your home environment. Built with metal and wood surfaces and offered in almost 300 colour options, Cibes Air can be tailored to your style. It comes in 17 sizes, and Cibes Air is well suited to medical clinics, dental clinics, specialist clinics and similar settings.

5. Cibes Hospital Lift Installations

5.1 Hospital Lift at Phramongkutklao Hospital

The Cibes Extra hospital lift at Phramongkutklao Hospital

The lift installed at Phramongkutklao Hospital is a large Cibes Extra model, fitted outside the building at the connecting walkway. It is a large lift with a usable car area of 1,405 x 2,480 mm serving 2 floors, big enough to take a patient bed inside, which makes it ideal for moving patients between buildings.

The Cibes Extra hospital lift at Phramongkutklao Hospital

5.2 Hospital Lift at Deep & Harmonicare IVF Center, a Specialist Fertility Clinic

The exterior of the Cibes hospital lift installed at Deep & Harmonicare IVF Center, a specialist fertility clinic

Hospitals normally offer a range of room types to suit their patients, whether Standard, Deluxe or Superior, so that everyone who comes in can be sure of exceptional comfort. The rooms are decorated in a contemporary style and fully fitted with medical equipment and amenities, and our lift is part of that complete package.

The interior of the Cibes hospital lift installed at Deep & Harmonicare IVF Center, a specialist fertility clinic

5.3 Hospital Lift at SLC Siam Laser Clinic, a Plastic Surgery Hospital

The exterior of the Cibes Air hospital lift installed at SLC Siam Laser Clinic, a plastic surgery hospital

A clinic means a healthcare facility run by a modern-medicine practitioner and classed as a clinic under local law, such as a medical clinic, a dental clinic or an aesthetic clinic. As well as coming in the right size, our lifts bring a sense of luxury that suits today’s modern clinics, thanks to our cutting-edge design.

The exterior of the Cibes Air hospital lift installed at SLC Siam Laser Clinic, a plastic surgery hospital

Cibes Lift: Over 79 Years of Experience, the Leader in Screw-Drive Lifts

Lifts in hospitals and clinics differ from ordinary lifts. They undergo load-capacity testing, for example, which is something we take seriously, so they come with an overload warning system. We are lift specialists, not only in home lifts but in lifts for buildings in general. We have extensive experience installing lifts in hospitals around the world, and our screw-drive lifts are durable and hold the CE certificate to European standards. We have also opened here in Thailand, so you can be confident in the quality.