CQC Writes To Care Homes, Hospices And Independent Hospitals To Encourage Them To Review Their Fire Safety Checks

The Quality care Commission (CQC) have written to providers of care homes, hospices and independent hospitals, as well as their representative bodies, to encourage them to review their fire safety checks to ensure they are up to date, understood and applied consistently.

The letter, from our chief executive, Sir David Behan, has been sent as a precautionary measure following the tragic events at Grenfell Tower earlier this month.

In the letter, Sir David says:

“As the regulator, our purpose is to ensure people receive safe, effective, compassionate and high quality care and to encourage improvement.

“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 in practice. In particular, 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.

“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.”

NHS trusts, which we also regulate, have been contacted by NHS Improvement already about their fire safety processes across their registered premises