Health and social care regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has
written to providers of care homes, hospices and independent hospitals,
encouraging them to review their fire safety processes.
Sir David Behan, CQC Chief
Executive writes:
“With recent events in mind, I am writing to ask that you review your
fire safety processes in your registered premises to ensure they are up to date
and are being applied consistently. I ask you to pay attention to the size and
fabric of your registered premises. You may have carried out such a review
already but if you have not, I encourage you to do so.”
Previous inspections have
identified fire safety issues such as blocked fire exits, fire doors wedged
open, escape routes used as storage areas, no evidence of recent fire drills
and low awareness among staff of what to do in emergency situations.
The regulating body urges
providers to ensure fire safety processes are up to date and are being applied
consistently in practice, complying with both the Health and Social Care Act
2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 and the Regulatory Reform (Fire
Safety) Order 2005.
The letter goes on to say, “We will continue to assess fire safety when
we register and inspect providers, focusing on passive and active fire
protection and on how fire safety is managed on a day to day basis.”
Within fire safety guidance on
the CQC’s website, further details are provided on the records checked during
inspections. These include:
- Fire risk assessments (date of production, any action plan and review date)
- Fire precautions log book (checks on exits, alarms, lights, signage and extinguishers)
- Staff training and drills (training on induction and further training and drills at least annually)
- Testing and maintenance of firefighting equipment
- Testing and maintenance of all fire safety systems (fire alarms, emergency lighting, mains electrical wiring, gas safety certificate and PAT testing certificate)
To make these
records easily accessible to assist with CQC inspections, while providing
complete visibility on current regulatory compliance, C365Cloud offers a
comprehensive solution for compliance management. Documentation such as fire
risk assessments can be uploaded straight to the system from on-site mobile
devices, where live dashboards and reporting provide an overview on outstanding
actions and risk.Due to its flexible modular design, C365Cloud is not just limited to fire safety. Asbestos, water hygiene, electrical and gas safety compliance can also be managed with evidence based reporting, mobile working and a legally defensible position. We currently help manage compliance at more than 400,000 properties, with more than 16,000 individual users and over 100 compliance areas.
C365Cloud are the winners of the Building
Better Healthcare Awards 2014 award for Best Evidence-Based Compliance with
Estates and Facilities-Related CQC Standards, in partnership with East Cheshire
NHS Trust. This award recognises estates and facilities management services
that can evidence awareness of, and compliance with, CQC standards.
To find out more about how
we can help you, click here
or send us an email at info@c365cloud.co.uk.
C365Cloud is an a cloud-hosted compliance management system designed to help any organisation audit, manage and improve their statutory compliance. The award-winning system is now used by 17,000 individual users and 3500 suppliers for over 100 compliance areas at 500,000 properties.
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