The best ideas for comfortable elective rooms

Anyone looking at Stiegelmeyer hospital beds and bedside cabinets in our catalogues or on our website often sees the ideal picture of a hospital room. During the photo shoot for a new product, we try to create a realistic and at the same time generous and attractive ambience. But even the skills of the photo studio can hardly compete with the elegance and state-of-the-art look of Apleona's PKV showroom in Oberhausen, Germany (ed.: PKV is the abbreviation for private health insurance in Germany). Here visitors can see our beds and bedside cabinets in a setting that would inspire even luxurious hotels. And this room is not just a backdrop – everything works, everything is possible.

We spoke to Christoph Weitzel, Authorised Signatory at Apleona and responsible for the healthcare division. As a real estate service provider, the Apleona Group looks after many business areas, e.g. facility management, real estate consulting, interior design and building technology. The Apleona Infra Services division includes catering, building cleaning and private health insurance consulting: the team advises hospitals on setting up elective rooms and negotiating fees with private health insurance companies.

20 companies exhibit products

The showroom in Oberhausen was launched in January 2022. Planning had taken a year, 20 companies contributed their products. "Hospital representatives who have not yet dealt intensively with the topic of elective rooms can find out here what they have to do for that purpose - and that is quite a lot," says Mr Weitzel.

After all, what distinguishes an elective room and what fees can be earned with it has already been defined in Germany since 2002 by the "Joint Recommendation" of the Association of Private Health Insurance Companies and the German Hospital Association. "There is a catalogue with 30 comfort elements, divided into the five service areas sanitary zone, other room furnishings, size and location of the room, catering and service," explains Mr Weitzel.

Hospitals that want to overcome the fee limits of this catalogue and conclude an individual agreement with the private health insurance companies need even more impressive overall concepts. In addition to the room furnishings, these can also include, for example, the design of the ward corridor and the furnishing of a lounge. With such sophisticated hotel furnishings, more than 190 euros could be earned daily for a single-bed room, explains Christoph Weitzel. Apart from the kiosk and the cafeteria, elective services are the only way for hospitals in Germany to earn money beyond their strictly regulated budgets.

Consultation, conferences and training

In the PKV showroom in Oberhausen, hospital representatives, planners and architects can get to know new products and trends and receive advice directly from the exhibiting companies. Training courses for service staff and cleaners also take place in the rooms.

The tour of the showroom can lead to new insights - the Stiegelmeyer products also contribute to this. Mr Weitzel tells of a hospital team that wanted to install bedside terminals in their rooms, i.e. monitors on swivelling arms. These were to be mounted on the walls. But the Stiegelmeyer bedside cabinet Vitano with its multimedia holding sleeve convinced visitors even more because it is more cost-effective, more flexible and requires less maintenance. The new electric Vitano with power connections and charging stations will also find its place in the showroom.

For the exhibiting companies, the room is also an ideal place to ascertain customers' wishes and feedback. Mr Weitzel reports on the team of an epilepsy centre that viewed the Stiegelmeyer beds and had certain requirements for covering the safety sides to reduce the risk of injury to patients. This is an opportunity for an exchange with our responsible area sales managers.

Mr Weitzel appreciates the many furnishing and design options of the Stiegelmeyer beds in Oberhausen, from the underbed light to the choice of decor for the head and footboards. He also likes our slim Quado bedside cabinet, which is ideal for Vario rooms. Vario rooms are used alternately as single and double rooms, so they have to be able to offer a lot of comfort even in a small space.

Get even more impressions of the showroom on the German website: pkv-musterzimmer.de