A hospital bed sensor system, comprising: - a safety side panel assembly (2, 3) including: a) a panel element, b) a hinge assembly coupled to the panel element and attachable to a bed frame, the hinge assembly permitting movement of the panel element between a safety position and an access position; c)a lock (19, 27) coupled to the hinge assembly for locking the hinge assembly and thereby the panel element in the safety position; d) a manually operable actuator located on the hinge assembly and connected to the lock, the manually operable actuator operable to release the lock and thereby to release the panel element; e) a sensor unit operable to detect whether the actuator is in a locking or a releasing condition, wherein the sensor unit comprises a trigger element and a sensor element; - a monitoring apparatus for monitoring the safety side panel assembly, including: a) a control unit coupled to the sensor unit and b) an indicator unit controllable by the control unit and operable to give an indication of the state of the safety side panel assembly, characterized in that the trigger element is located on the manually operable actuator and the sensor element is located on a part of the panel element or hinge assembly, and that the safety side panel assembly further comprises a release lever, a link, plungers and a mounting bracket comprising holes, wherein manually pulling the release lever outwards causes the link to slide the actuator upwards, thereby disengaging the plungers from the holes in the mounting bracket and positioning the trigger element in line with the sensor element to indicate an unlocked state of the panel element, and wherein raising the panel element causes the plungers to automatically engage into the holes in the mounting bracket, thereby allowing the plunger actuator to move downwardly and so re-position the trigger element away from the sensor element to indicate a locked state of the panel element. - a safety side panel assembly (2, 3) including: a) a panel element, b) a hinge assembly coupled to the panel element and attachable to a bed frame, the hinge assembly permitting movement of the panel element between a safety position and an access position; c)a lock (19, 27) coupled to the hinge assembly for locking the hinge assembly and thereby the panel element in the safety position; d) a manually operable actuator located on the hinge assembly and connected to the lock, the manually operable actuator operable to release the lock and thereby to release the panel element; e) a sensor unit operable to detect whether the actuator is in a locking or a releasing condition, wherein the sensor unit comprises a trigger element and a sensor element; a) a panel element, b) a hinge assembly coupled to the panel element and attachable to a bed frame, the hinge assembly permitting movement of the panel element between a safety position and an access position; c)a lock (19, 27) coupled to the hinge assembly for locking the hinge assembly and thereby the panel element in the safety position; d) a manually operable actuator located on the hinge assembly and connected to the lock, the manually operable actuator operable to release the lock and thereby to release the panel element; e) a sensor unit operable to detect whether the actuator is in a locking or a releasing condition, wherein the sensor unit comprises a trigger element and a sensor element; - a monitoring apparatus for monitoring the safety side panel assembly, including: a) a control unit coupled to the sensor unit and b) an indicator unit controllable by the control unit and operable to give an indication of the state of the safety side panel assembly, a) a control unit coupled to the sensor unit and b) an indicator unit controllable by the control unit and operable to give an indication of the state of the safety side panel assembly,