[jambutty]

Picture the scene. The Ambulance arrives at A & E, the paramedics jump out and trundle the stretcher through to Casualty.

A group of nurses and a doctor gather round and lift the patient onto the examination bed. Just observe how it is done not just in real life but also on the many hospital soaps on TV.

The stretcher trolley is placed alongside the examination bed and a couple of people lean over it to grab the stretcher and lift and pull whilst others lift and push. Both groups are lifting with their backs bent. Is it any wonder that some people suffer from back problems because of lifting patients?

You get the same sort of situation when a bed ridden patient is sent to theatre/X-Ray/Scans etc or transferred to somewhere else.

Is it beyond the brains of the hospital staff to have the stretcher trolley placed end on to the examination bed and as people gather round they all lift and walk forward to place the patient on the examination bed?