Steelcase Health Partners with KwickScreen to Support Infection Control and Flexibility

Grand Rapids, MI, Jan. 24, 2023 – Today Steelcase Health announced a new partnership with UK-based portable partition manufacturer KwickScreen to combat the spread of Healthcare-Associated Infections and better serve medical facilities with more diverse solutions.

Since its foundation in 2011, KwickScreen has offered a range of safe, flexible and beautiful screens to mitigate HAIs in medical facilities. The screens enhance the safety of patients, caretakers and staff by providing greater infection control and flexibility than traditional hospital curtains.

KwickScreen designers worked with microbiologists to engineer these screens with a single touchpoint, making them easy to clean with standard medical cleaning products. Offerings include portable, retractable, fixed-to-wall, free standing and pop-up solutions, accommodating the various needs of healthcare facilities and allowing easy space reconfiguration on demand.

HAIs impact millions of people each year and exacerbate the already-overburdened system by making some patients even more sick and causing longer recovery times. According to the World Health Organization, 7% of hospital patients in high-income countries will acquire at least one HAI during their hospital stay. The statistic jumps to 15% of hospital patients in low- and middle-income countries. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) attributes HAIs to approximately 722,000 infections and 75,000 deaths each year in the U.S. alone, as well as $28–33 billion in excess costs.

“We’re delighted to partner with KwickScreen as our customers are looking for ways to provide healthier outcomes for their clinicians and patients,” said Pamela Krill, director of product marketing for Steelcase Health. “Finding new solutions to prevent HAIs has been at the forefront of the work KwickScreen has done for more than a decade and we look forward to providing all who work or visit healthcare facilities increased protection.”

Additionally, KwickScreen products bring life into what can be sterile and uninviting hospital environments – a need Healthcare professionals are increasingly seeking solutions for. Hospital visits often bring anxiety, especially for children and people in long-term care. Bringing artwork and other customized touches into spaces can help patients and caretakers feel more calm and comfortable during their stay. KwickScreen offers a wide range of artwork that can be applied to their portable screens. Screens can also be fully customized, allowing hospitals to use whatever artwork best suits their needs and puts their patients at ease.

“KwickScreen was founded in direct response to the shortcomings of other industry solutions to privacy and infection control in the hospital,” said Alan Murrell, CEO of KwickScreen. “Each screen we’ve developed showcases how thoughtful design can improve flexibility and infection mitigation efforts. The combined expertise of KwickScreen and Steelcase is a great step forward in helping reduce the risk of additional health complications in medical facilities across the United States.”

KwickScreen joins the Steelcase Health community of brands, which creates solutions and spaces that lead to better health outcomes for everyone involved in the complex work of care. Through this partnership, KwickScreen products are now available for purchase through 270 Steelcase-authorized dealer locations throughout the United States.

For more information on how this partnership is bringing beautiful solutions to healthcare spaces while supporting infection control and flexibility in new ways, visit steelcase.com/KwickScreen.

About Steelcase
Established in 1912, Steelcase is a global design and thought leader in the world of work. We help people do their best work by creating places that work better. Along with more than 35 creative and technology partner brands, we design and manufacture innovative furnishings and solutions for the many places where work happens — including learning, health and work from home. Our solutions come to life through our community of expert Steelcase dealers in over 800 locations, as well as our online Steelcase store and other retail partners. Founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Steelcase is a publicly traded company with fiscal year 2022 revenue of $2.8 billion. With our more than 11,000 global employees and dealer community, we come together for people and the planet — using our business to help the world work better.

About KwickScreen
KwickScreen has revolutionized healthcare environments across the world with their infection control privacy partitions. KwickScreen fundamentally believes hospitals shouldn’t have to compromise on cost and sustainability to ensure each and every patient enters a hygienic space. KwickScreen is also part of the movement to increase flexibility in healthcare to allow hospitals to adapt to changes in demand, local demographics and other needs throughout its lifetime. The KwickScreen systems have been supplied to every NHS trust in the UK, over 250 hospitals in the US and over 15 other countries.