Koller Helps EMA to Safely Transport a Baby Incubator

Published: 11th January 2022

 

Initially founded in 1980, family-run Koller Engineering has grown to be leaders in the wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) industry designing and manufacturing products to make travel safe for wheelchair users. Managed by Dean Koller, Leoni Mullis and Andy Nurrish, the company continues to be a trailblazer of highly innovative equipment and is backed up by a skilled team of designers, engineers and operators.

Koller works with many leading transport companies across the UK including EMA Patient Transport who have been a customer since 2018. EMA is a service providing secure, non-emergency Patient Transport (PTS) and secure mental health transport working alongside the Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS to provide these services. The company has most recently been working closely with the NHS to provide vehicles to assist with the elevated pressures in meeting the increased demand following the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Problem


EMA were approached by a local NHS Trust who required assistance in finding a solution to safely secure and transport a baby incubator as a contingency plan when emergency ambulances are not available.
The maternity unit is located across the road from the main hospital and whilst maternity are well equipped in dealing with labours which present challenges or result in unwell babies, there are occasions where mum needs enhanced care and requires the support from a full surgical team at the main hospital. In these circumstances, the transport incubator is taken across to the main hospital in the event of the baby needing additional support from the Neo-Natal Unit.

With the incubator costing over £100,000 and as an extremely important and essential piece of equipment, transporting the delicate and heavy machine safely was of high priority. This required securement in the EMA ambulance to ensure the equipment was moved safely and no damage occurred during transportation.

“It is an impressive piece of equipment which has heating to provide a warm environment for baby as well as everything required for monitoring and oxygen. The Incubator is large and weighty – it needs specialist equipment in order to ensure it is safely secured during a move.” said Becky Bamford, EMA HR and Compliance Manager. “We knew exactly who we needed to assist us with this task - Koller.”

The Solution


With over 40 years of designing and manufacturing products for the WAV industry, and a team who have extensive knowledge in safe securement, EMA contacted Koller for assistance in the safe transportation of this important piece of equipment.

Becky said: “Koller is always our first port of call with any securement needs.” Koller Sales Manager, Andy Nurrish met with Becky and the EMA team to evaluate how the incubator could be transported safely. With over 25 years’ experience in the accessible vehicle industry Andy understood why securement was so vitally important, but crucially how to achieve it.

Following an ‘on-site’ evaluation, and using a range of Koller products, Andy devised a way to safely secure the incubator to ensure it could be transported easily and safely to the main hospital when required.

 

Final Thought


“Since 2018 we have built up a relationship with Koller and in particular Andy. The company is not only our preferred supplier, but Andy is always on hand to assist and advise us. Not only has Koller been able to provide us with the right solution for safely fixing this transport incubator into our ambulance, but Andy spent time to accompany us to meetings with the local trust and to see the incubator so he could ensure we were heading in the right direction. I can’t recommend Koller enough not only for the excellent products, but also for their fantastic customer care,” concluded Becky.

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