As a dentist, Dr. Markus Spalek doesn’t actually come across decubitus ulcers, that is to say bedsores, in his profession. It’s a different story away from the workplace, though. When he witnessed the suffering of his grandmother a number of years ago, he found it hard to believe there wasn’t some technical solution. “In the middle of the night, I sketched out the idea of laying patients on moving rollers. However, I then put the piece of paper in the drawer of my bedside table and, being a self-employed practitioner, I didn’t have time to develop the idea any further,” he recalls. Several years later, following a career change, he decided to dig out the sketch and started to do some research. “Pressure sores can be avoided in almost 100 percent of cases if sufficient staff are available, and that’s exactly where the big problem lies at present,” he says. Repositioning a patient takes between seven and fifteen minutes, and this needs to be done every one to four hours – an interval that differs on a case-by-case
basis. Depending on the patient’s weight, several staff may be required for this process. To relieve the pressure on the skin, the sufferer can also be placed on
soft positioning or alternating pressure mattresses – solutions that Dr. Spalek definitely regards as being worthwhile and improving the situation. “But they do quickly reach their limits and can’t solve the problem to the extent I feel is necessary. The Nocubi lying system I’ve developed is an electronically controlled active underlay that works in a fundamentally different way to all established anti-decubitus systems,” he explains.

Dr. Spalek established his company in June 2021, together with his son Timo Spalek, who is currently still studying business administration. The fledgling family start-up is
actually still something of a cottage industry but is now really taking off. “The declaration of conformity is now in place, meaning we can start trading,” says Dr. Spalek with a sense of satisfaction. And the market is huge – research by the German Institute for Medical Documentation and Information shows that at least 30 percent of care home residents are at risk of developing bedsores. However, Nocubi can also make life a whole lot easier for many other people. “I made the solution available to a friend of mine, and he and the family members looking after him are impressed. Thanks to Nocubi, they can sleep through the night again. That’s infinitely valuable,” he emphasises.