Supporting Patients, Visitors and Staff: Practical Charging Solutions for NHS Hospitals

Across the NHS, waiting areas remain anunavoidable part of the patient journey. Whether in A&E, outpatient departments, specialist clinics or main receptions, patients and visitors are often required to wait — sometimes for extended periods.

At the same time, smartphones have become essential tools in healthcare. Patients rely on them to access the NHS App, review appointment details, check test results, complete digital forms and stay in contact with family members. For many visitors, particularly in emergency situations, a mobile phone is the primary way to provide updates and receive support.

When a battery runs low during a long wait, it adds a small but meaningful layer of stress to an already anxious environment.

Providing accessible phone charging in hospital waiting areas is a straightforward intervention that supports patients, visitors and staff alike. Wall-mounted Charging Shelves offer a practical solution for fixed seating areas and smaller departments, while freestanding Charging Totems provide higher-capacity charging for larger, high-footfall spaces such as A&E and central congregation areas.

Both are designed to integrate into healthcare environments without adding operational complexity.

Why Accessible Charging Matters in Healthcare Settings

Healthcare delivery is increasingly digital. From QR code check-ins to electronic discharge information and online appointment systems, access to a charged mobile device is often necessary — not optional.

Where dedicated charging is unavailable, patients commonly gather around wall sockets or ask staff for assistance. These small interruptions accumulate, placing additional pressure on already stretched teams.

Open, free-to-use charging removes these barriers. There are no payments to process and no equipment to issue or retrieve. Patients and visitors simply connect their device and remain in control of it at all times — maintaining communication, accessing information and reducing avoidable anxiety.

For Trusts focused on improving patient experience and creating calmer environments, charging provision is a visible and practical step aligned with modern healthcare expectations.

Charging Shelves: Fixed, Secure and Designed for Everyday NHS Use

For many hospital environments, a fixed wall-mounted solution offers the most practical way to introduce reliable charging without altering existing layouts. Crable’s Charging Shelves integrate seamlessly into waiting areas, outpatient departments, wards and clinic corridors — particularly where seating is arranged against walls.

Each Shelf provides wireless charging pads, USB ports and standard plug sockets, ensuring compatibility with a wide range of devices. This flexibility is important in healthcare settings where patients, visitors and staff rely on different cables and adapters.

In the absence of a dedicated charging provision, patients often use wall sockets originally installed for internal operational purposes. These are typically positioned low to the floor and not intended for public access. As a result, people sit beside them with cables trailing across walkways — creating avoidable trip hazards and disrupting the appearance and flow of waiting areas.

By introducing purpose-designed charging at an appropriate height, Trusts can reduce informal socket use while improving safety and presentation.

Hygiene and infection control are critical considerations. Charging Shelves feature smooth, wipe-clean surfaces andopen-access charging, avoiding enclosed compartments where debris can accumulate. Because users retain their own devices and cables, there is no shared handheld equipment. Compared to enclosed charging lockers or rented battery packs, this design supports simpler cleaning routines and reduces shared touchpoints.

Operationally, the absence of payment systems or managed devices keeps administration minimal.

For Trusts managing constrained capital budgets, Charging Shelves are available for purchase or rental from under £1 per day on standard long-term rental agreements. Structured over typical multi-year terms, rental requires no capital outlay, helps ease pressure on cashflow and enables phased rollouts across departments or sites.

Charging Totems: A Modern, High-Capacity Solution for A&E and Larger Waiting Areas

In larger hospital environments — particularly A&E departments, emergency assessment units and main receptions — demand for charging can be significantly higher. In these spaces, a centralised and visible solution is often more appropriate.

Each Charging Totem integrates four Crable Charging Shelves within a single free-standing structure, combining proven wall-mounted technology with the flexibility of 360-degree access. Multiple patients and visitors can charge simultaneously, reducing congestion around walls and improving the natural flow of busy waiting areas.

Totems are also well suited to high-footfall congregation spaces such as hospital cafés, staff restaurants and areas adjacent to retail units or pharmacies. In these environments, people gather centrally rather than remain seated along walls. The freestanding format allows charging provision to be introduced without altering existing wall layouts.

Hygiene remains central to the design. Like the Shelves, Totems feature smooth, wipe-clean surfaces and open-access charging. There are no enclosed lockers, no returned battery packs and no communal handheld equipment. In infection-sensitive environments, this simplicity supports straightforward cleaning and reduces shared contact points.

Charging Totems have already seen strong uptake across other public sectors where high footfall and extended dwell times create similar demand. We are now excited to introduce Totems into healthcare —particularly the NHS — where A&E and major waiting areas present comparable requirements.

Each Totem also features large panel spaces on all four faces for high-quality full-colour graphics. In busy departments, these panels act as visible, organic touchpoints — ideal for NHS charity awareness campaigns, fundraising initiatives, health messaging or way finding support. Graphics can be updated periodically to reflect new priorities, allowing the Totem to evolve alongside charitable or clinical messaging. Totems are available for purchase or rental from under £10 per day on standard long-term rental terms, providing a practical route to deployment without significant upfront capital investment.

Flexible Funding Options and Sustainable Procurement

Improvements to waiting areas often depend as much on funding structure as on need. Crable’s solutions are therefore designed to align with both capital and operational budgets.

Rental agreements remove the requirement for large upfront expenditure while keeping costs predictable. Many Trusts also work in partnership with NHS charities to support patient comfort initiatives. Charging provision sits naturally within this category: it is visible, tangible and immediately beneficial. Blended funding approaches — combining estates and charity budgets — are common and effective.

Crable products are available via the NHS SBS framework through our partnership with Renray Healthcare, providing a compliant and straightforward procurement route.

Crable is proudly Made in Britain, supporting high manufacturing standards while helping NHS organisations reduce transport-related Scope 3 emissions. Choosing UK-manufactured equipment contributes to more responsible procurement practices— an increasing priority across the health service.

Energy consumption is also minimal. Approximately 1,000 full phone charges can be delivered for around £1 of electricity, depending on tariff rates. For a detailed breakdown, see our article on electricity costs. In practical terms, charging provision represents a very small addition to overall hospital energy use while delivering a clear patient benefit.

Trusted by NHS Trusts Across the UK

Crable charging solutions are installed in numerous NHS Trusts, including Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, GreatOrmond Street Hospital (GOSH), King’s College Hospital, and The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn, alongside many other acute and specialist organisations.

At Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, Charging Shelves were introduced to enhance patient and visitor experience within key waiting areas. The Trust required a secure, low-maintenance solution that integrated easily into existing layouts. Fixed wall-mounted charging provision achieved this without increasing operational complexity for staff. You can read more in the full Gateshead case study.

Proven installations across multiple Trusts provide reassurance that charging provision can be introduced smoothly and scaled appropriately.

A Small Addition, A Meaningful Difference

As the NHS continues its transition toward digitally enabled services, access to a charged mobile device forms an increasingly important part of the patient journey. At the same time, pressures on waiting times and hospital capacity are unlikely to ease in the near term.

Charging Shelves and Charging Totems are not complex infrastructure projects. They are practical, visible additions that reflect the realities of modern healthcare — supporting communication, reducing friction and contributing to calmer waiting environments.

For estates teams, patient experience leads and NHS charities reviewing improvements to waiting areas — particularly in high-demand environments such as A&E — accessible charging offers a simple, affordable and sustainable enhancement aligned with patient-centred care.

Get in touch with our team to find out more here.

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