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The British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA) has welcomed Newlyn Healthcare Specialist Equipment as a new member. The company provides specialist healthcare equipment designed to support healthcare professionals and improve patient care across a range of settings.
The BHTA recently caught up with Ronnie McDonald, Managing Director at Newlyn Healthcare Specialist Equipment, to learn more about the company’s work in specialist equipment provision, its focus on patient wellbeing, and why it chose to become part of the BHTA.
Ronnie has spent more than two decades with Newlyn Healthcare Specialist Equipment, building extensive knowledge of the healthcare sector and the needs of the professionals working within it.
“I have been with Newlyn Healthcare Specialist Equipment for 22 years, and my journey into the healthcare sector began with a strong interest in improving patient outcomes through the provision of high-quality specialist equipment,” Ronnie explained.
That long-standing experience continues to shape his focus on practical, reliable support for healthcare providers.
“Over time, I have developed a deep understanding of the challenges faced by healthcare providers, which continues to drive my passion for delivering reliable and effective solutions,” he added.
Newlyn Healthcare Specialist Equipment supplies a wide range of specialist products across different care environments. Its product offering includes 24-hour postural management, specialist seating, sleep systems, pressure care, profiling beds, moving and handling equipment, showering and bathing products, and both powered and manual wheelchairs.
“Our ethos centres on delivering high-quality, clinically effective products backed by excellent service and support,” Ronnie commented. “We work closely with NHS trusts, care homes, and community healthcare providers to ensure that the equipment we supply meets the highest standards and genuinely enhances patient wellbeing.”
A recent development for the business has been the creation of a system for re-assigning both paediatric and adult specialist seating, helping local authorities reduce costs and lower their carbon footprint.
Healthcare suppliers are operating in a changing environment, with businesses needing to manage operational pressures while keeping pace with regulatory and clinical developments.
“Like many organisations in the healthcare sector, we face ongoing challenges around supply chain pressures, changes in regulations, and the need to continually adapt to evolving clinical requirements,” Ronnie highlighted.
“The support provided by organisations such as the BHTA is invaluable in helping us stay informed, compliant, and connected within the industry,” he continued.
Newlyn Healthcare Specialist Equipment chose to join the BHTA because of the association’s standing within the healthcare industry and its role in promoting high standards across the sector.
“We chose to become a member of the BHTA as it is a trusted and respected voice within the healthcare industry,” Ronnie explained. “We recognise the value of aligning ourselves with an organisation that promotes best practices, quality standards, and ethical trading.”
BHTA membership also gives the company access to valuable guidance, resources, and opportunities to engage with wider industry developments.
“Being part of the BHTA strengthens our credibility and allows us to contribute to a wider network of like-minded organisations,” he emphasised.
Looking ahead, Newlyn Healthcare Specialist Equipment is focused on the next stage of its development.
“Newlyn Healthcare Specialist Equipment is focused on expanding our product range, strengthening partnerships, and continuing to invest in innovation,” Ronnie said. “We are particularly keen to explore new solutions that enhance patient comfort, safety, and independence.”
The company is also planning to attend relevant industry events throughout the year to build its presence across the sector. Ronnie said BHTA events and webinars focused on industry trends, compliance, and innovation are of particular interest, as they offer useful opportunities to stay informed and connected.
To find out more about how the BHTA can support your business and how to become a BHTA member, visit this page.
Cumberland Council has published an invitation to tender for the supply of specialist seating equipment for use within its Community Equipment Service. The council is seeking suppliers able to provide two categories of specialist chairs that support adults with assessed eligible needs in the community.
The opportunity concerns the spot-purchase supply of the following chair types:
According to the tender documents, the chairs are required to support individuals who need clinically appropriate seating solutions that promote independence, safety, and comfort. The procurement aims to establish a single-supplier arrangement, ensuring consistency of provision and simplified contract management for the authority.
The contract has an estimated maximum value of £350,000. The initial term will run from 1 February 2026 to 31 July 2027, with an option to extend for a further 12 months to 31 July 2028. This structure allows the council flexibility to maintain continuity of supply based on service requirements.
The tender is being carried out through an open procedure. The main procurement category is goods, and the CPV code listed is 33192000 (medical furniture). Full tender documentation, specification, and submission instructions are available through the authority’s procurement portal, The Chest.
Here are the key deadlines that suppliers should be aware of:
All tender responses must be submitted electronically.
Suppliers wishing to review the specification or submit a response can access the tender through The Chest. All accompanying documents are available via The Chest.
This tender can also be viewed on the UK Government’s Find a Tender service here.
Tri-Chair, a specialist posture and pressure care management seating firm that recently became a member of the British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA), has helped Rob Burrow MBE get a modular chair that meets his changing needs.
Rob was born in West Yorkshire in 1982. Having made his rugby league debut for Leeds Rhinos in 2001, Rob went on to become a legend of the game, making 493 appearances for his club, winning eight Super League titles, two Challenge Cups, three World Club trophies, and three League Leader’s Shields.
Rob also made 22 appearances representing England, Great Britain, and Yorkshire, and was inducted into the Leeds Rhinos hall of fame in 2020.
In 2019, Rob was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND), which is a degenerative neurological condition affecting the neurones in the brain and spinal cord, impacting on movement, body control, speech, and all muscular control.
Rob initially noticed some problems with his speech that led to investigations, including an MRI and nerve conduction studies, the results of which were confirmed by a neurologist.
Over the last four years, Rob’s condition has progressed, and he is now reliant on support for all activities of daily living (ADLs).
Despite Rob’s initial reluctance to seek help, he had a visit from an occupational therapist who made recommendations for seating specifically. Rob uses a profiling bed, which he says has been a “real lifesaver”. It enables him to change his position regularly and remain comfortable.
After some time, Rob posted a Tweet (now X) stating he felt it was “time to consider a specialist chair”. This is when a mutual friend introduced Rob to Shaun McCluskey, who works with Channel Healthcare and Tri-Chair.
Shaun took time to get to know Rob and his family. For Shaun and Rob, it was crucial that the equipment recommendation process was clear, transparent, and focused on what Rob and his family wanted to achieve, while providing information that empowered them to make an informed, capacitated decision.
Rob was able to clearly identify his goals for seating. He said: “To be able to sit comfortably for prolonged periods of time and to ensure that I don’t develop pressure areas/sores. I have drinks and eat my meals in the chair, so I need to have adequate head and trunk support for feeding.
“It is essential that I have good sitting posture for everyday tasks such as eating and drinking. I use a communication device, so I need to have good posture to be able to use my machine to communicate using my eye movement.”
Rob also made it clear that he and his wife wanted to avoid turning the house into a healthcare setting. Equipment needed to be aesthetically pleasing as well as unintrusive.
Rob becomes tired quickly, and this impacts on both posture and his ability to engage in activities that are meaningful to him, particularly with his family.
The chair that Rob was sitting on initially did not provide any pressure relief and was actively generating heat and encouraging sheer. Due to Rob’s reduced core strength and balance, he was leaning to his left side, with pressure mapping conducted to provide key evidence that would support Shaun’s recommendations and Rob’s decisions.
The pressure mapping identified some key areas of risk, including the left buttock, ischial tuberosity, and right thigh due to windswept posture.
Rob’s sitting posture, particularly relating to trunk and head support, was compromising a safe swallow and therefore increasing chances of aspiration.
Each of the above challenges impacted on Rob’s ability to engage in meaningful activities and ADLs. His roles were being even more greatly affected, and this was impacting on carers around him.
Through a combination of time spent with Rob and his family, listening carefully to his views and goals, and providing evidence to support the rationale, Shaun recommended the Tri- Chair Three. This is a tilt-in-space, adjustable seating system, which, as it’s modular, can be adapted to meet Rob’s changing needs.
The Tri-Chair team also recommended a moulded seat and backrest, which provide more support when Rob gets particularly tired. As well as supporting Rob’s goals, this option allows Rob, his wife, and care team to interchange cushions, depending on the social situation and environment, in order to reduce the healthcare look and feel of the chair whenever that is appropriate for them.
Rob had a trial of the Tri-Chair Three, supported by Shaun and the team, so that it could be altered to meet Rob’s specific needs. This included a pommel to prevent further adduction and the moulded seat so that pressure was redistributed more evenly without Rob having to be in a tilted position so regularly.
This in turn meant that Rob could be more engaged and communicate with good eye contact, promoting dignity and respect.
The outcome was the product of a collaborative process, built on trust.
Rob concluded: “The design of the chair means that it can be adapted to meet my needs. For example, I felt that the trunk support was too restrictive on one of my chairs, so the pads were removed without compromising my overall comfort or posture in the chair. Extra padding/support can be added, and the chairs can be tilted with feet up/down, which helps alleviate pressure.
“The Tri-Chair has improved my quality of life.
“I don’t think I would cope without the chair, which was tailor made for me. I certainly miss my Tri-Chair when I get away somewhere. I have to look forward to the time I have my home comforts.”
Specialist posture and pressure care management seating firm Tri-Chair recently became a member of the British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA).
Since then, BHTA caught up with Shaun McCluskey, Managing Director at Tri-Chair, to find out more about the firm, how its specialist seating modularity grows with user’s changing needs and facilitates cost-effective refurbishment, and why it decided to become a BHTA member.
Tri-Chair was developed by Channel Healthcare, which is a team of experienced, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic independent seating consultants.
Channel Healthcare’s aim is to provide a timely, needs-based, and cost-effective solution to specialist seating challenges while exceeding customer expectations.
Tri-Chair’s goal is to make life easier for those tasked with equipment provision.
There are three specialist seating solutions available from Tri-Chair: Tri-Chair One, Tri-Chair Two, and Tri-Chair Three. They have different design and configuration options, but all models are underpinned by Tri-Chair’s chair frame.
Each option evolves and adapts to an individual’s needs as conditions progress or as users change. This modularity reduces the cost of specialist seating provision, enabling equipment loan stores to refurbish and reallocate a chair to a new user at a fraction of the cost of buying new.
Shaun McCluskey, Managing Director at Tri-Chair, explained: “Tri-Chair is a new modular range of specialist seating built on decades of experience within the industry. We aim to make life easier for those tasked with equipment provision. The Tri-Chair has the potential to evolve and adapt to an individual’s needs as conditions progress or indeed as users change.
“We are working with several highly experienced distributors across the UK and offer a next-day despatch to ensure clients’ needs are met before they potentially change.”
Recycling of a Tri-Chair to a new user has a number of potential benefits not only to the efficiency of equipment provision by the loan store, but to the effectiveness of occupational therapy community service, to the user who is in urgent need of postural support and pressure management, or the hospital discharge team looking to release beds.
Having readily available a specialist chair that is suitable for those that are ambulant yet require some posture and pressure care through to those with complex sitting postures following some simple adaptations is highly important.
The intuitive design of the Tri-Chair makes the adaptations and adjustments straightforward for store engineers to undertake without the need to hold exhaustive amounts of costly stock.
Furthermore, Tri-Chair’s adaptability enables it to be recycled to new users thereby extending the product’s lifecycle, minimising waste, and helping to reduce the carbon footprint of stores. Even in this small way, the Tri-Chair is contributing to a greener planet.
Shaun continued: “I spoke to Andrew Stevenson, former chair of BHTA three years ago about our dream of having a truly modular range of specialist seating that would help the likes of NRS, Millbrook, Medequip and independently operated equipment loan stores provide the very best service to every client.
“Three years later we our very proud of what we have created and the feedback from our customers has been fantastic. We are offering the range of modular seating via a network of trusted distributors across the UK and also have export customers already taking on the range. We bring passion, pride and knowledge back to the specialist seating industry along with good old fashioned customer service which for many seems to have slipped over recent years.”
Discussing the decision to become a BHTA member and what he would like the association to do more of going forwards, Shaun said: “I wanted to become a BHTA member as I feel the association helps bring likeminded companies together to help focus on driving our industry forward.
“We have supported the BHTA through several businesses through the years and feel proud to be a member.
“I’d love to see more training for members and found the pressure care awareness course ran some years ago to be one of the most informative and worthwhile courses I’ve attended.”
“We feel that the specialist seating industry has been stale for over 10 years with very little to get excited about,” Shaun explained. “Tri-Chair won the Innovation Award at the Occupational Therapy Show during the recent launch and have further developed since.
“We have just launched a new negative leg rest that provides 33 degrees of negative angle which is a first and will help a large number of clients that have developed tight contractures through Covid times.
“Our products will be constantly evolving ensuring we are the leading provider and will bring the passion and customer support that seems to have fell by the wayside in recent years.”
Tri-Chair is currently looking for experienced distributors in some areas of the UK. Interested parties should get in touch with Shaun at Shaun@trichair.co.uk.
To find out more about how the BHTA can support your business and how to become a BHTA member, visit this page.