In this application, the term'workstation'is intended to mean apparatus on which various pieces of equipment is or are mounted or mountable and which can provide support and supply means for various necessities.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a movable, preferable readily manoeuvrable, floor standing workstation for mounting of various medical equipment by a patients'bed in hospitals.

Rapidly growing development in medical equipment technology has resulted in an increasing number of devices which are required for use in hospitals by a patients'bed.

Depending on the complexity of the medical condition of the patient, the array and number of medical devices which are employed by the bedside may be such that access to the patient is restricted due to the size, number and relative positioning of such devices. The use of these devices may also increase the risk of accidents, such as knocking the equipment or falling over any trailing cables and hoses which connect the devices to the building's services. Moreover, the clutter of equipment and the associated cables, tubes and hoses can also lead to confusion and, in some situations, to mistakes which may be detrimental to the well-being of the patient.

In recent years different medical equipment manufacturers have produced workstations which house all the required equipment and supplies, such as gloves, electrodes,

needles, etc and to which are mounted the ancillary equipment for life support or monitoring, for example. Up to thirty pieces of equipment may be mounted to a workstation. Some have greater than 10 utility supply ports and over eighteen power sockets as well as suction, oxygen supplies and so on. To avoid the clutter of cables and hoses which connect the or each device to the hospital building's services, the workstations are directly linked to the main hospital services and/or may have on their body or chassis, sockets for connecting a supply of electricity, gas, water, suction and so on to an individual device, as required. The supply link for the workstation is usually through a conduit which is connected to the principal supply lines in the ceiling above the bed.

The conduit is usually part of a more elaborate multi-segmented articulating arm which, in most cases, also supports the weight of the workstation in suspension above the floor. Because such workstations are rigidly connected to the building by suspension from the ceiling they can only be moved within a limited range and/or along pre- determined pathways around the patients'bed. Such workstations may comprise means to secure them to the floor to ensure that they are stable during use.

Clearly, there are several disadvantages with the above-identified workstations. The restricted movement of the workstation is a clear problem. Also, installation of such workstations requires the ceiling to be modified by, for example, installing sufficient beams or strengthening existing beams to support the weight of the workstation.

Supports may also be required on the floor which may be difficult to clean.

Other known workstations are simply floor-mounted cabinets. There are obvious problems associated with such workstations in as much as their lack of movability is a

drawback. There is a further disadvantage associated with such workstations in that it is difficult to clean the floor under the parts in contact with the floor.

In hospitals, as well as other medical establishments, it is essential that all equipment surfaces, as well as the floor on which they stand are scrupulously clean to inhibit the spread of bacterial, viral or other infections. It is important to ensure that any accidental spillages of blood, bodily fluids, medicaments and other liquid substances are cleaned thoroughly and traces thereof are removed. Accordingly, the cleanability of the workstation and the floor under them is of paramount importance.

In Intensive Care Units (ICUs), for example, a patient may need supplies of several substances, as well as to be monitored by several devices. Doctors and other medical staff may require access to the patient from any of a number of positions. The patient may have to be moved to surgery or to a ward. The position and movability of the workstation may affect one, some or all of these requirements.

There is a further problem associated with suspended or floor mounted workstations namely that due to the large number of devices which are or have to be mounted on them, they are relatively heavy. The task of moving or (re) positioning them becomes a health and safety risk for the clinical staff. In order to make it easier for the operators and clinical staff to move and reposition these cabinets, the articulations in the supporting arm have been equipped with low friction bearings. Whilst this considerably reduces the force required to move the workstation, it may make the workstation an unstable platform. The effect of the horizontal component of the load of the workstation and all the equipment attached to, or supported on, it tends to create a turning moment about the articulating joints of the support arm. Because of this inherently unstable

loading arrangement, all the existing suspended workstation systems incorporate a brake within each joint that needs to be engaged to ensure stability. Where such brakes are used, in the event of a failure, the cabinet becomes unstable and moves away or towards the bed, potentially causing damage along the way.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome one or more of the problems associated with prior art workstations. In particular, it is an object of the invention to provide a workstation which is movable in a desired direction, and a workstation which is preferably more manoeuvrable than prior art workstations. It is a further, but not exclusive, object of the invention to provide a workstation which is better adapted for use in hospitals than prior art workstations and which may find particular utility in ICUs.

A first aspect of the invention provides a workstation for use in a medical establishment, the workstation comprising a body having a port to which a utility supply conduit is engagable, a port for the supply of a utility to a device, storage means in or on which articles may be stored and frictionless bearing means operable to allow a user to move the workstation.

A second aspect of the invention provides a medical workstation, the workstation comprising a body having a port to which a utility supply conduit is engagable, a port for the supply of a utility to a device, storage means in or on which articles may be stored and frictionless bearing means operable to allow a user to move the workstation.

Preferably, the frictionless bearing means is one or more air casters. The or each air casters may comprise a pocket or pouch formed of resilient material through which gas may be pumped to raise the workstation from a supporting surface.

Typically, air casters are pouches made of rubber or some other flexible material that are formed into a torus or doughnut shape and when pressurised air is introduced into the volume within the pouch that is in contact with the floor, the pocket of air raises by a fraction of a millimetre the drive base onto which the workstation is mounted and permits a frictionless movement of the workstation to take place. In effect the workstation slides or is slidable on a pocket of thin air which presents no frictional resistance to the motion of the workstation.

The gas supply may be onboard the workstation and/or may be outboard of the workstation.

If the gas supply is outboard of the workstation, the gas may be supplied along the utility supply conduit.

If the workstation has an onboard and outboard gas supply, the workstation may comprise switch means operable to switch between onboard and outboard gas supplies.

The onboard gas supply will preferably be a container (e. g. a cylinder) of pressurised gas. Additionally or alternatively, the onboard gas supply may comprise an air inlet and a compressor or pump arranged to take in ambient air through the inlet and force it through said air casters.

Where the workstation is supplied or supplyable from an outboard gas supply as well as an onboard gas supply, valve means may be present operable manually to switch

between the two sources. Additionally or alternatively, said valve means may be automatically switched or switchable between outboard supply and onboard supply in the event of the failure of one or the other.

Said frictionless bearing means may be operated by activating operation means.

Preferably, said operation means are resiliently urged or urgable into the'off'position, thereby requiring positive activation thereof to operate said frictionless bearing means.

Operation means may comprise a turn handle, pull knob, push button or other similar devices.

The workstation may comprise safety means arranged to prevent the workstation from being moved beyond a certain desired distance. Said safety means may comprise a cord attachable to safety switch means on the workstation, the other end of the cord being attached or attachable to a non-movable location, such that when the workstation is moved beyond the length of the cord the cord will disengage from said safety switch means which will arrest operation of said frictionless bearing means, say cut the supply of gas to the air casters. The cord will be of a length sufficient to allow movement of the workstation around the location of use but will be short enough so that the utility supply conduit, when attached, is not stretched or damaged when operation of said frictionless bearing means is arrested.

The workstation may comprise jack means operable to raise the underside of the workstation clear of the supporting surface. Said jack means may be manually or electrically operable. Said jack means may comprise one or more air jacks arranged to pneumatically operate. Said jack means may be a simple plurality of legs which are raisable and lowerable to disengage from or engage with the supporting surface. The

legs may be lowered to engage the supporting surface when said frictionless bearing means is operating, thereby retaining the workstation at a vertically displaced position above the supporting surface when the operation of said frictionless bearing means is arrested.

Said jack means is operable to raise the workstation sufficiently clear of the supporting surface so that the underside thereof, including said frictionless bearing means, is cleanable.

Said frictionless bearing means may be pivotally mounted to said workstation such that, when the workstation is supported by said jack means, said frictionless bearing means are pivotable to be, say, horizontally disposed, to facilitate cleaning thereof.

Said workstation may comprise onboard gas cleaning means. Said gas cleaning means may comprise one or more of an electrostatic filter, a coarse filter, a HEPA filter an ultraviolet lamp. Preferably, said air cleaning means comprises a flow path for gas in which is disposed, in series, a coarse particulate filter, an ultraviolet lamp and a HEPA filter. Where air cleaning means are present, the workstation need not be supplied with medical grade gas as said air cleaning means will preferably remove particulates and bacteria. Accordingly, the workstation may also use clean or cleaned gas to operate air casters, thereby providing clean air to the surroundings.

Although the principal source of power for the workstation is likely to be via the utility supply conduit, it may also be via an onboard power supply. An ancillary onboard power supply may be present to be used in the event of a failure of the main supply via

the utility supply conduit or when moving the workstation (for example when attached to the patient) from location to location (e. g. room to room or ward to ward).

A third aspect of the invention provides a combination of a medical workstation and a flexible utility supply conduit, the utility supply conduit being engagable with a utility supply port located on the workstation to supply one or more utilities to the workstation, the workstation comprising frictionless bearing means operable to allow the workstation to be moved by an operator.

A further aspect of the invention provides a method of moving a medical workstation, the method comprising operating frictionless bearing means located on said workstation and pushing or pulling said workstation, said frictionless bearing means being operated by activating resiliently urged operation means, said operation means being resiliently urged or urgable into the'off'position.

It will be appreciated that the present invention provides a solution to one or more of the above-mentioned problems by addressing the disadvantages through the provision of a stand alone workstation which is mounted on a frictionless driving base and which preferably comprises one or more shelves, drawers and other mounting brackets, rails and clamping slots and connection points or ports for services such as mains electricity, data communication, oxygen, medical grade air, vacuum and other gasses which are supplied to it from the building in which it is used through tubes, hoses and cables passed through a conduit, preferably a flexible conduit.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood, it will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a workstation according to the invention; Figure 1A is a detail of the workstation of Figure 1; Figure 2 is a perspective view from below of the workstation of Figure 1; Figures 3A to C are schematic representations of the operation of raisable legs on a base for use with a workstation according to the invention; Figure 4 is a schematic representation of an air cleaning unit usable within the workstation of the invention; and Figure 5 is a schematic representation of the internal components of a workstation according to the invention.

Referring to Figures 1,1A and 2, there is shown a workstation 1 for use in a hospital which has a housing or carcass 2 on which a plurality of trays and shelves 3 are mounted (two are shown although it will be appreciated that more or less could be mounted on the housing 2). The housing 2 has a plurality of ports 4 for the supply of utilities to ancillary devices, such as ventilators, syringe pumps, ECG monitors, breathing monitors and so on. Such ports 4 may supply gas (e. g. oxygen), electricity, water, vacuum (suction), data (either voice or other data) for example. The workstation 1 is supplied with utilities through a flexible conduit 5 through which runs one or more supply conduits, one for each supplied utility. The flexible conduit 5 may be supplied via conventional ceiling borne supply channels. A bar 6 may be present to which devices or ancillary apparatus may be clamped.

As is best seen in Figure 2, the workstation 1 is mounted on a base 9 which comprises a frictionless bearing 10 in the form of four air casters 11. Each air caster 11 is formed as a ring 12 of rubber or similar resilient material. Air is forceable from the housing 2 through each ring 12 so that, when the ring 12 is in contact with a surface (usually the floor), superatmospheric pressure is created within the ring 12 and air is forced out of the ring 12 around the periphery thereof. The air which exits the ring 12 is sufficient to create a ground-effect whereby the ring 12 (and consequently the workstation 1) is lifted from the support surface and'floats'on a thin film of air. The film of air need only be a fraction of a millimetre thick to provide a frictionless bearing. Once the frictionless bearing is established the workstation 1 may be easily moved.

The gas to activate the air casters 11 may be supplied from an onboard gas cylinder 13, via the flexible supply conduit 5, or from an onboard compressor or pump (not shown). In some embodiments, the workstation 1 will be supplyable with gas from two or all three of the above-identified sources. A manually and/or automatically actuatable valve (35, Figure 5) will be present to change the supply from, say, via the flexible supply conduit 5 to via the onboard gas cylinder when the workstation 1 is to be moved from one location to another. The valve 35 could also be used to change the supply in the event of a failure of one supply, for example, when an onboard gas cylinder 13 empties or when the supply via the flexible supply conduit 5 fails.

A handle 14 for manoeuvring the workstation 1 is provided. The handle 14 may be resiliently urged into a first position where the supply of gas to the air casters 11 is arrested, by pulling or pushing on the handle 14 (against the urging) the gas supply to the air casters 11 will be commenced allowing the workstation 1 to be moved. The handle 14 may be supplied with a lock to ensure that the air casters 11 are not

accidentally activated. The activation of the air casters 11 need not be via the handle 14, it may be via a second handle (not shown), or via a button or knob (also not shown).

There is further provided a cord 15, attached at one end to the workstation 1 and at the other end to a distal portion to the flexible supply conduit 5. The cord 15 is attached to a switch 16 mounted on the workstation 1. The switch 16 is operable to arrest the supply of gas to the air casters 11. The cord 15 is shorter than the flexible supply conduit 5. When the workstation 1 is to be moved if it is moved beyond a certain distance (the length of the cord 15) the cord 15 will disengage from the switch 16 and the supply of gas to the air casters 11 will be arrested and the workstation will be rendered (relatively) unmovable. The cord 15 and switch 16 is arranged to prevent undue stressing of the flexible supply conduit 5 or any cables or utility supply conduits contained therein. The distal end of the cord 15 may be attached to a wall or other surface instead of to the conduit 5.

Referring now to Figures 3A to 3C, there is shown the base part of a workstation according to the invention comprising a plurality of air casters 11'mounted on a pivotable support 20. There is also present a plurality of extendable legs 21.

In normal operation, the legs 21 are retracted as shown in Figure 3A. The air casters 11'may be activated to allow the workstation to be moved and/or to raise the workstation 1 from the supporting surface.

To clean or maintain the underside or the air casters 11'and their supports 20, the legs 21 are extended to contact the supporting surface and thereby support the workstation 1. The workstation 1 may be raised above the height of air caster operation.

The pivotable support 20 may then be pivoted about the point of connection 22 to allow access to the bearing surfaces of the base, i. e. the air casters 11'and the underside of the support 20. It is these surfaces which may become infected with spilt fluids and the like and would provide a particular site for dirt or for the spread and growth of bacterial or viral infections.

The legs 21 may be pneumatically, hydraulically electrically or manually activated or activatable.

Figure 4 shows a schematic representation of an air cleaning system which may be installed within the workstation 1 of the invention. Air is supplied in the direction of arrow A from a source to an air cleaning device 30. The air passes through a coarse particulate filter 31 and into an irradiation chamber where it is irradiated with UVC light by UV lamp 32 to kill pathogens which pass through the coarse filter 31. The air is then forced through a HEPA filter 33 to remove any smaller particulates or other entrained matter from where it travels to the air casters 11, 11'to allow the workstation 1 to be moved.

One or more such cleaning devices 30 may be installed in series or in parallel. There may be one or more lamps 32 present, the or each of which may be in the flow path of the gas or may be outside the flow path, separated therefrom by a UV transmissible wall.

The potential advantage with having onboard air cleaning apparatus 30 is twofold.

Firstly, a supply of medical quality gas is not required to activate the air casters 11,11' which would otherwise be required in an ICU, infection control room (either positive or negative pressure room) or other area where immuno-suppressed patients are being treated or monitored. Secondly, if the gas is supplied from a compressor or pump which draws ambient air into the workstation, the cleaning apparatus will clean the air and pump out cleaned air into the room. When not in use, the casters 11, 11'could be bypassed so that the cleaning unit continually pumps clean air into the room and the bypass could be removed when it is needed to move the workstation 1.

Figure 5 shows the internal components which may be present in a workstation 1 of the invention. Gas may be supplied to the gas cleaner 30 via the flexible supply conduit 5 or from the onboard gas supply 13, both coming via the valve 35. An onboard power supply 40 (e. g. battery pack which may be rechargeable, motor or so on) is provided to power the components of the workstation 1 and/or the ancillary devices connected thereto in the event of a failure of the main power supply (via flexible conduit 5) or when it is necessary to move the workstation 1 to a location beyond the reach of the flexible conduit 5. Medical grade oxygen may be supplied from the supply conduit 5 via line 51 to be pumped through a ventilator connected to port 4. An onboard supply of medical grade oxygen 50 may be provided to supply a ventilator in the event of failure of the main supply or for when the workstation 1 is being moved.

The workstation 1, will be provided with a plurality of alarms and monitors (not shown) to alert staff when a system fails or in the event of utility supply failure, for example.

To use the workstation 1, the flexible supply conduit 5 is plugged into its dedicated port mounted on the top (of otherwise) of the workstation 1. The flexible supply conduit 5 will typically contain pipes and cables for the supply of one or more utilities. Preferably, the supply conduit 5 will only be engagable with the port in one way so that the utility pipes and cables of the conduit 5 engage with corresponding ports in the workstation 1.

The workstation 1 may then be loaded with the appropriate equipment or devices needed for the particular task, say monitoring a patient in an ICU. By activating the air casters 11,11', the workstation may be easily moved to an appropriate location around the bed of the patient.

The doctor or other medical staff may then use the ports to supply the apparatus used to monitor the patient with electricity, to supply suction, water, gas and the like. All the necessary equipment may be loaded onto the shelves 3 or clamped to the bar 6.

If installed, the air cleaning unit may continuously or otherwise emit cleaned air and (if air is drawn through a compressor or pump, continuously take in potentially dirty air.

By activating the air casters 11, 11'the workstation 1 may be readily moved around the bed. The cord 15 will prevent the workstation from being moved too far which might otherwise induce stress in the flexible supply conduit 5 and the enclosed pipes and cables.

If it is desired to move the workstation 1 to another location, the flexible supply conduit 5 can be disengaged and the onboard gas supply 13 can be used to activate the casters 11,11', thereby enabling the workstation to be readily moved.

By using the extendable legs 21 or other similar lifting means it is possible to provide access to all of the surfaces of the workstation and base to clean or maintain the same.

More or less legs 21 than the four shown may be used.

More or less air casters 11, 11'may be used than the four shown.

Although the above description relates to air casters 11, 11'it will be appreciated that magnetic bearings could be used, although that would require probable modification of the support surface.

It will be appreciated that the workstation 1 of the invention provides a solution to many of the problems experienced in hospitals, in particular. The workstation 1 is easier to move than those of the prior art. Because the workstation 1 is not confined to a pre- determined path it is more flexible in use than prior art workstations. Also, it is readily cleanable, it may be installed in a hospital ward without major restructuring work being carried out. Further, for use in an ICU, an infection control zone or other area, room or ward where immunu-suppressed patients are held, the provision of on-board cleaning devices 30 is of particular use.

When it is desired to move a patient, the onboard power supply may be used to supply power to devices and equipment mounted on or connected to the workstation 1. Thus, the patient is able to receive uninterrupted monitoring, ventilation, drug delivery and the like, even when being moved from location to location.

A particular instance where this will be of great benefit is where a patient has to be moved rapidly to an ICU or to an infection control zone. In which case, a workstation 1,

may be brought to the patient's bedside (if not already present) and the appropriate equipment installed on the patient (for example a ventilator, ECG monitor, stabilising drug delivered through an air powered infusion pump and saline drip). The onboard power 40, gas 13 and oxygen 50 supplies may be used to move the patient and the workstation 1 (supported on its frictionless bearing 10) to an appropriate location.