In a multi-storey hospital, lifts are part of the clinical system. A patient being rushed from the emergency department to the operation theatre, a ventilated ICU patient going to CT, or a mother in labour being moved to the delivery suite all depend on a lift that is large enough, fast enough and reliable enough. Yet many Pakistani hospitals, especially those in converted buildings, have lifts that cannot take a bed, break down frequently, or are shared with visitors, food trolleys and waste.
This guide explains hospital bed lift selection in Pakistan: types of hospital lifts, recommended car sizes, how many lifts you need, separation of patient, visitor and service traffic, power backup, fire and evacuation considerations, and maintenance.
⚡ Quick Answer
Every multi-storey hospital with inpatients needs at least one bed lift large enough for a hospital bed, attached equipment and staff, and ideally two for redundancy. Hospitals should separate bed/patient lifts, visitor/passenger lifts and service lifts for supplies and waste. Bed lifts need deep cars, wide doors, accurate levelling, emergency power, and priority control for emergencies. Standards such as EN 81-20 and ISO 4190 guide lift design and sizing.
🏢 About Hospital Solutions Pakistan
Hospital Solutions Pakistan is a specialised healthcare design and build firm based in Lahore, serving hospitals, clinics, healthcare centres and medical universities across Pakistan. We combine functional planning, engineering and modern healthcare technology to deliver facilities that meet international standards, from MEP and medical gas systems to equipment planning, fit-out, upgrades and maintenance.
Vertical transport is part of the hospital’s clinical system. We plan lifts together with department locations, power and fire strategy so patients can move safely and quickly between floors.
🛗 Types of Lifts in a Hospital
| Lift Type | Purpose | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Bed lift (patient lift) | Moving patients on beds or stretchers between departments | Deep car for a full-length bed plus staff and equipment; wide doors; smooth ride; emergency priority |
| Stretcher lift | Smaller hospitals and clinics | Takes a stretcher and attendants; smaller than a bed lift |
| Passenger / visitor lift | Visitors, outpatients and staff | Located near main entrance and waiting areas |
| Service lift | Food, linen, supplies, waste | Robust interior, separate clean and dirty scheduling or separate lifts |
| Firefighting / evacuation lift | Firefighter use and assisted evacuation | Protected shaft, secondary power, as required by code |
| Dumbwaiter | Small items such as samples, medicines | Small car, no passengers |
📏 Bed Lift Car Sizes
A standard hospital bed is roughly 2.1–2.3 metres long and around 1 metre wide, and it often travels with IV poles, a monitor, a ventilator or oxygen cylinder, and one or two staff. International sizing references such as ISO 4190 provide standard car dimensions for healthcare lifts. As a practical guide:
| Use | Typical Internal Car Size | Typical Rated Load |
|---|---|---|
| Stretcher lift (small facilities) | Around 1.2–1.4 m wide × 2.3–2.5 m deep | ~1,000–1,275 kg |
| Standard bed lift | Around 1.4–1.5 m wide × 2.4–2.7 m deep | ~1,600–2,000 kg |
| Bed lift for ICU transfers with equipment | Larger cars, often 1.8 m wide or more × 2.7 m deep | ~2,000–2,500 kg |
Indicative sizes only. Confirm with your bed dimensions, equipment and the lift supplier’s standard models.
Door width is equally important: bed lift doors are commonly 1.1–1.4 metres clear opening, usually side-opening or centre-opening telescopic doors.
🔢 How Many Lifts Does a Hospital Need?
The number of lifts depends on the number of floors, beds per floor, outpatient volumes, and whether operation theatres, ICU and imaging are on different levels. Lift consultants perform traffic analysis for larger hospitals. As a planning starting point:
| Hospital | Suggested Minimum |
|---|---|
| Small clinic or day-care, 2–3 floors | 1 stretcher or bed lift |
| 50-bed hospital, 3–5 floors | 2 bed lifts (one can double as service at scheduled times) + 1 passenger lift |
| 100-bed hospital | 2–3 bed lifts, 2 passenger lifts, 1 dedicated service lift |
| 200+ bed hospital | Multiple bed lifts in separate cores, visitor bank, clean and dirty service lifts |
A single bed lift is a single point of failure: when it is under maintenance or broken, patients cannot move between floors safely. Redundancy is strongly recommended for any hospital with ICU or OT above ground level.
🚦 Separating Traffic Flows
- Patient flow: bed lifts located near clinical cores (ER, OT, ICU, imaging), away from public lobbies where possible.
- Visitor flow: passenger lifts at the main entrance, so visitors do not crowd bed lifts.
- Service flow: supplies, food and linen moved in service lifts; waste in a dedicated or scheduled lift, never with clean supplies or patients.
- Emergency priority: key-switch or card control so staff can call a bed lift directly and travel without intermediate stops.
⚡ Power, Fire and Evacuation
- Emergency power: at least one bed lift connected to the generator-backed essential supply, so patients can be moved during outages.
- Automatic rescue device (ARD): brings the car to the nearest floor and opens the doors during power failure, preventing entrapment.
- Fire recall: lifts return to the designated floor on fire alarm; firefighting lifts, where required, have protected shafts and secondary power.
- Evacuation strategy: hospitals may use protected lifts for assisted evacuation of non-ambulant patients, if designed and approved for this purpose.
⚙️ Machine-Room vs Machine-Room-Less (MRL) Lifts
| Factor | Machine-Room Lift | MRL Lift |
|---|---|---|
| Space | Needs a machine room above shaft | Machine in shaft; saves space |
| Heavy loads | Well suited | Available, check model for bed lift loads |
| Maintenance access | Easy in dedicated room | From landing or shaft; needs proper design |
| Energy | Varies; modern gearless drives efficient | Generally efficient |
| Best for | Large, heavy-duty bed lifts | Space-constrained buildings, passenger lifts |
✅ Pros and Cons of Dedicated Service Lifts
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
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🏢 Lifts in Converted Buildings
Many clinics and small hospitals in Pakistan operate in converted commercial or residential buildings with small passenger lifts that cannot take a stretcher. Options include installing a new bed lift in an external shaft, replacing the existing lift with a larger car if the shaft allows, or relocating inpatient services to the ground floor. This should be checked before signing a lease or buying a building.
🔧 Maintenance and Safety
Hospital lifts run constantly and carry vulnerable passengers. They need monthly preventive maintenance by a competent contractor, periodic safety inspections, rapid breakdown response, and clear records. Include lifts in the hospital’s maintenance contracts. Interior finishes should be durable and cleanable, with bumper rails to protect walls from bed impact.
⚠️ Common Mistakes
- Installing passenger lifts that cannot take a bed.
- Only one bed lift for a hospital with upper-floor OT and ICU.
- Waste, food and patients sharing the same lift.
- No emergency power or automatic rescue device.
- Lift lobbies too small for beds to turn.
- Poor levelling that jolts patients and equipment.
🛠️ How Hospital Solutions Pakistan Helps
We plan vertical transport as part of hospital design and upgrades: lift numbers, sizes, locations, traffic separation, power and fire integration, and supplier coordination. See our hospital beds guide and MEP upgrade services. Lift standards are published by bodies such as ISO, and fire safety guidance by NFPA.
🏢 Planning Lift Lobbies and Cores
A lift is only as useful as the space around it. Bed lift lobbies must be large enough for a bed to be wheeled out, turned and moved into the corridor without hitting walls or waiting patients. As a planning guide, lobbies in front of bed lifts should allow a clear depth comfortably longer than a bed plus staff, and should not double as waiting areas.
- Clinical cores: place bed lifts close to OT, ICU, labour suite and imaging, so critical transfers are short.
- Separate cores: in larger hospitals, placing bed lifts in two separate cores provides redundancy if one core is blocked or under maintenance.
- Visitor cores: near the main entrance, with clear signage, so visitors do not wander into clinical lift lobbies.
- Service cores: linked to loading bays, stores, kitchens, laundry and waste areas.
🔒 Access Control and Priority Operation
Busy hospitals often find bed lifts full of visitors when a critical patient needs to move. Modern controls solve this:
- Card or key access so bed lifts can be restricted to staff.
- Priority (hospital service) mode that lets staff call a lift directly to their floor and travel non-stop.
- Code blue integration, where the emergency team can summon a lift immediately.
- Destination control in large hospitals to group passengers efficiently.
🧼 Lift Car Interiors for Hospitals
- Stainless steel or durable laminate walls that resist impact and disinfectants.
- Bumper rails at bed and trolley height.
- Non-slip, easy-to-clean flooring.
- Handrails for walking patients.
- Good lighting and ventilation.
- Emergency communication to a staffed location.
- Door protection devices (light curtains) to prevent doors closing on beds or people.
💰 Cost Considerations
Lift cost depends on load, speed, number of stops, door type, drive technology, brand and whether the lift is new or a replacement in an existing shaft. Bed lifts cost significantly more than standard passenger lifts because of their size and load. When comparing quotations, compare like with like: rated load, car size, door width, speed, warranty, spare parts availability and maintenance cost over at least ten years, not just the purchase price. Energy-efficient gearless drives and regenerative systems can reduce running costs in busy hospitals.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What size should a hospital bed lift be?
A standard bed lift commonly has an internal car around 1.4–1.5 m wide and 2.4–2.7 m deep, with larger cars for ICU transfers with equipment. Confirm with your beds and supplier.
How many bed lifts does a hospital need?
At least one, and ideally two for redundancy in any hospital with upper-floor OT or ICU. Larger hospitals need multiple bed lifts plus visitor and service lifts.
Should waste travel in patient lifts?
No. Waste should use a dedicated service lift or be scheduled separately to protect patients and clean supplies.
Do hospital lifts need emergency power?
Yes. At least one bed lift should run on generator-backed power, and lifts should have automatic rescue devices to prevent entrapment.
What is an MRL lift?
A machine-room-less lift with the drive located in the shaft, saving space; suitability for heavy bed lifts depends on the model.
Can a small lift be replaced with a bed lift?
Only if the shaft, pit and structure allow a larger car; otherwise a new shaft may be needed.
📞 Planning Lifts for Your Hospital?
Our team can assess your lift needs, check your building and coordinate bed lift selection and installation.
Call: +92 311 1749849 | Email: support@hospitalsolutions.com.pk | Office: Gulberg-III, Lahore