The present invention seeks to address the chronic and worsening problem of mattress management in hospitals by providing a mattress protector to shield a mattress or mattress core from body fluids, the protector not only comprising a shielding cover for the mattress or mattress core but also a
detector in an inter- or under-layer of the cover to detect
body fluid that has passed into or through the cover. The
detector may be chemical, with the cover being a transparent cover and the under-layer being absorbent and having a dye that is activated by a
body fluid to provide a visual indication of presence of the
body fluid. In an alternative embodiment the
detector may be an apparatus monitoring electrical
conductivity. This suitably uses threads of
electrically conductive yarn forming either the warp or weft of a thin flexible under layer of the protective cover and which are linked to a small processor which monitors the electrical
conductivity between neighbouring conductive threads in the sensing layer.