Best Practice in Patient Transfers: Use of a Lateral Transfer Board with Air-Assisted Devices

The aim in patient handling never changes: move people safely, comfortably, and with the least possible effort. One point that often sparks debate is whether to use a lateral transfer board alongside an air assisted transfer device.

Some manufacturers do not explicitly recommend it, and current national guidance stops short of directly addressing its use. But evidence and technique evolve. If a method measurably lowers the force required, even by 1 kg, that is meaningful risk reduction when repeated across teams, shifts, and years. It is worth doing.

Think of mowing the lawn. You can push mow a field. When sit on mowers became available, many chose them because they made the task easier and less physically demanding. Patient handling is similar: when a tool or method makes the job smoother and safer, it is sensible to adopt it.

How We Got Here: Evolving Techniques, Not “Better Products”

Manual handling has never stood still, and it has not been a straight ladder of improvements either. It is a series of options that broaden what staff can do while chipping away at risk from different angles.

• Bin bags cut into tubes were used in the 1980s to create a basic low friction aid.

• Purpose made tube slide sheets followed.

• Flat sheets then offered more versatility in certain scenarios.

• Flats with handles did not make flats better, they simply offered another way to work, changing hand position and body mechanics.

• Extension straps were introduced to help reduce over reaching.
  

Each step added another technique to reduce risk, sometimes only marginally, but always purposefully. Air assisted devices are now at that same evolving stage. Pairing them with a lateral transfer board is the next possible technique to further lower forces and standardise how we work.

Why Add a Board When You Already Have Air?

Air assisted devices create a cushion that reduces friction dramatically. In practice, though, real world transfers often include discontinuities:

• Gaps of 15 to 18 cm between bed and trolley are common; air escapes here and performance drops.

• The patient can sag into the gap, causing a sudden rise in pull force at the worst moment.

• Surfaces may be misaligned or have different coefficients of friction.
  

A lateral transfer board addresses these realities by:

• Bridging the gap so the air cushion can function across a continuous pathway.

• Supporting patient weight to prevent sagging and jolts.

• Maintaining low friction where airflow would otherwise be compromised.
  

Even if the measured difference is only a kilo or two, that marginal gain matters for staff safety over time and improves patient comfort during the glide.

Not Just Bed to Bed: Floor to Air Transfers Too

The value of a board is not limited to surface to surface moves. When moving a person from the floor onto an air assisted lifting device, the floor provides enough resistance for the device to bounce and inflate, which many already find straightforward.

Adding a board makes the transition easier still, and easier equals safer. Lower effort means less strain and less variability. Just as handles and extension straps offered different options to manage reach and posture, the board offers a reliable, predictable glide path onto the device.

Where This Sits in National Guidance

Using a lateral transfer board with an air assisted device reflects the core principles in the major frameworks:

• HOP7 (NHS England, 2023): use the lowest friction method available.

• NICE guidance (NG5): reduce manual force wherever possible and provide appropriate equipment.

• Manual Handling Operations Regulations (MHOR, 1992; amended 2002): avoid hazardous manual handling where practicable, and where unavoidable, reduce risk as far as possible.
  

Combining air assistance with a bridging board is a straightforward engineering control that lowers force at source and supports those obligations.

Scientific and Ergonomic Rationale

• Friction: Air devices drop the coefficient of friction, boards keep it consistently low across gaps and joins.

• Force spikes: Gaps and sag increase pull force abruptly, boards smooth the pathway and flatten those spikes.

• Load distribution: Boards spread weight, reducing local pressure points and jolts.

• Consistency: A board adds repeatability with fewer awkward angles and fewer stop start corrections.
  

The outcome is the lowest practical transfer force for that scenario, less strain for staff and greater comfort and dignity for patients.

• Aligns with HOP7 (lowest friction available), NICE NG5 (reduce manual force), and MHOR (eliminate or minimise risk).

• Addresses typical real world constraints (15 to 18 cm gaps, surface misalignment, variable friction).

• Delivers measurable force reduction, even if marginal (for example, about 1 kg), which is meaningful over time.

• Improves consistency of technique, training, and audit.
  

This is not about one product improving another. It is about evolving technique, adding a method that lowers force and standardises practice. Just as the field moved from bin bag tubes to tubes, flats, flats with handles, and extension straps to tackle risk from different angles, air assisted transfers are now in their own phase of refinement.

If the addition of a lateral transfer board reduces even 1 kg of pull, that is a meaningful, repeatable reduction in risk. Small numbers add up. And when the goal is minimising harm, the option that makes the task easier and safer is the one to choose.