Medway NHS Foundation Trust has introduced a digital system to centralise fire risk assessment information across the estate of Medway Maritime Hospital.
The system, created by BIS Consult, takes data from multiple sources to give the trust’s fire safety group a central tool for analysing fire risk assessments. Fire safety information was previously held across numerous separate records and documents, making it difficult to analyse collectively.
In one example, examining the assessments together showed that a single, estate-wide approach to cabling issues would be more cost effective than several individual repairs.
Neil McElduff, director of estates and facilities for the trust, said: “The new system is a significant step in our shift towards digital. It underpins the strategic direction of fire safety management and will help maintain a safe environment across our hospital. The work to date shows the system’s potential to drive similar insights for other critical areas of risk and compliance across the trust.”
Interactive dashboards will support fire safety review meetings and help guide investment decisions. They will make it easier to identify priority risks, outstanding actions, and recurring themes across the estate, such as further fire risk assessments, fire door replacement, or new evacuation plans.
Jason Brittin, capital projects/programme manager for the trust, who led the project, said: “The BIS Consult solution has demonstrated how we can transform the way we manage fire safety information across our hospital estate. The improved visibility of risk will help our fire safety and estates teams prioritise action, support regulatory compliance and make more efficient investment decisions.”
The approach supports NHS guidance on fire safety, including HTM 05-03, which explains how NHS organisations should assess fire risk, and HTM 05-01, which provides the wider framework for managing fire safety in healthcare buildings. It also supports the “golden thread” principle of keeping accurate and accessible fire safety information available throughout the life of a building.
BIS Consult has previously worked on similar risk management systems for Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and Airedale General Hospital, covering asset condition, asbestos, and RAAC.
Nick Campbell-Voegt, managing director of BIS Consult, said: “The digital tool enables Medway NHS Foundation Trust to take a more connected, data-driven approach to risk reduction. By developing a single source of truth, it gives teams clearer priorities and ultimately helps create safer hospitals. Other areas of NHS estate risk can benefit from the same method, including water safety and structural condition of buildings or other assets.”
Medway NHS Foundation Trust is a single-site hospital trust based in Gillingham, Kent, serving more than 427,000 people across Medway and Swale.
Image credit: Panumas Yanuthai/Shutterstock
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