‘The Original Drinkup Hands-free Drinking System’ came into being because the inventor’s grandmother had been admitted to hospital and was finding it difficult to drink. He wanted to help prevent her becoming dehydrated and increase her autonomy and dignity, while at the same time reducing the workload for her carers.
Starting in 1997, the ‘Drinkup’ has been developed further and a new version has recently been launched: the Drinkup21 is a simple but effective product, which can dramatically improve people’s health. It works on the same basic principle as an ordinary cup and drinking straw but has been radically re-worked for hands-free use by people at risk of dehydration, enabling them to drink without assistance, while potentially avoiding the need for a naso-gastric (NG) feeding tube.
It is manufactured to a very high-quality specification to withstand the rigours of use within a healthcare environment.
Completely hands-free
Suitable for Rehabilitation or Care
Reduces the risk of dehydration
Dehydration can lead to very serious medical complications, for example: confusion, urinary infection, impaired renal function and blood clotting problems, such as DVT. Older people are particularly at risk. Therefore, ensuring adequate hydration is a crucially important responsibility for carers, as stressed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The Drinkup21 is designed to make drinking easier and hence improve fluid intake, while simultaneously reducing the workload for staff.
The Drinkup21 may be highly beneficial in many clinical situations including, for example:
Drinkup21 'in location'
Core components
The basic Drinkup21 consist of the following parts:
These parts have a 1-year warranty.
BODY (Holder) & CLAMP
Consumables
The following are suppled as part of the system:
These parts have a 3-month warranty.
Bite Valve
Bite Valve OPEN
A Tube Cleaning Brush can be purchased separately if required.
All these items can be purchased as a ‘Consumables Parts PLUS-5 Pack’, comprising one each of the following: (i) Drinking Tube, (ii) Bite Valve (mouthpiece), (iii) Elbow Connector, (iv) Flexible ARM assembly and (v) Cleaning Brush.
We recommend holding at least two sets of consumables, so one is in use while the other is being cleaned.
If the Drinkup21 is positioned above the user's mouth gravity will reduce the effort required to suck in fluids. This can be helpful when the user suffers from weakness – the flow of fluid can be modulated by:
The Drinkup21 can be used with a variety of different fluids from water, fruit-juice or even thickened fluids with higher nutritional content, but which may be harder for the user to take in.
Each person should be assessed carefully to make sure that they can manage - in general, thin custard or medium syrup consistencies work well for most people, whilst thicker mixes are harder to suck (the set-up can be adjusted so gravity assists. The ‘Safe-Siphon’ Mode can also be used with thickened fluids).
The Drinkup21 should never be used with very hot or cold drinks.
To reduce the risk of infection frequent cleaning of the Drinkup20 hardware should be cleaned frequently with disposable sterilising wipes and washed by hand in warm water & mild detergent.
Sterilising solution may also be used. Thoroughly rinse, drain, drip dry/wipe dry before reuse or storage (see instructions for further details).
Consumables should be replaced regularly as long-term use of the same set of consumables is not recommended. However, when the Drinkup21 is used by an individual in their own home, consumables may be reused, providing they are kept properly cleaned, particularly if the Drinkup21 is being used mainly for water, which will leave less residue.
The Drinking Tube may be washed by hand in warm water & mild detergent, but not in a dishwasher, as this is not effective for internal cleaning (a cleaning brush is available which can be used to clean the inside of the tube).
Consumables should never be shared between different users.
Buy Drinkup 21
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