Concern fire service plan to stop attending automatic hospital alarms could put lives at risk

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service's plan to stop responding to some automatic hospital fire alarms has been met with fears lives may be lost.

The service wants to stop attending automatic fire alarm calls from hospitals between 7am and 7pm from April 2023, unless there is a follow up 999 call.

The service automatically goes to fire alarm activations for buildings including hospitals, nursing homes, sheltered housing, flats and heritage sites.

But it wants to stop going to some calls because the vast majority are false alarms which cost money and resources at a time service budgets are under pressure.

Hospitals across the city and county account for 10 per cent of all 'unwanted fire signals' – these include incidents such as problems with light fittings, microwaves, cotton bud fires and overheated extractor fans.

But concerns were raised over the plans at a Fire Authority Community Safety meeting on January 6.

The authority is a body of local councillors and fire officers which monitors the service's performance and spending.

After raising concerns about the plan, councillors agreed to support a consultation with the hospitals before it goes any further.

The service says it will save about £300 for every false alarm it does not go out to.

The hospitals said in a joint statement that they have "well-tested plans in place" to deal with incidents.

During the meeting, regional chair of the Fire Brigades' Union, Mark Stilwell, said the consequences "could be devastating" if the fire service did not attend automatic alarms immediately.

He added: "There is very little to no financial savings in making these changes.

"Is the fire service prepared to risk the lives of the public just to reduce the number of turnouts?"

Between April and September 2022 there were 143 call outs to the Queen's Medical Centre – run by Nottingham University Hospitals – and King's Mill Hospital – run by Sherwood Forest Hospitals.

Of these, only 3.5 per cent were found to be fires – none of which had spread.

Fire authority member Councillor Johno Lee (Con) said that he did not feel the committee had enough information to make a decision.

He said: "We need to go away for further consultation with the hospitals.

"We had a serious fire at the county council offices and we nearly lost that building.

"If it wasn't for the fire engines coming out as quickly as they did we could've lost that building and maybe lost lives.

"If we are not going to go straight out then extra minutes could be somebody dying.

"At the moment I'm uncomfortable doing anything before in-depth conversations."

Councillor Nick Raine (Lab) added: "The NHS is hugely underfunded at the moment and people are run off their feet.

"This is potentially the worst time to be doing this. I've got concerns about it.

"If £300 means a question of life or death I'm really uneasy about it."

Mick Sharman, the service's Assistant Chief Fire Officer, agreed that hospitals are "complex buildings" but said that from experience, they are "very safe places".

He added: "We are extremely confident in the individuals and the staff at the hospitals.

"A consultation is ongoing regarding this approach.

"Obviously concern has been raised through the consultation but this is occurring up and down the country."

Councillor Jason Zadrozny (Ind), chair of the meeting, read out a statement on behalf of the service, which said: "The commitment and drive to reduce attendance at false alarms will assist the service to further enabling the service to prioritise activities that keep people safe.

"Responding to unwanted fire signals accounts for 35 per cent of all incidents attended. Hospitals are the biggest contributor to false alarms.

"Attendance at false alarms places a significant impact on resources, diverting valuable time from other preventing, protecting and responding activities.

"Hospitals are well run and professionally managed facilities with good levels of fire protection.

"Arrangements for fire safety and the care of patients is the responsibility of the hospital's responsible persons.

"In the event of uncertainty hospitals should call 999 and not rely on automatic fire alarms as a method of alerting the service."

In a joint statement, Nottingham University Hospitals and Sherwood Forest Hospitals said: "All our public services have a duty to ensure that their precious resources are used in the most efficient and effective way possible.

"As a Trust, we have well-tested plans in place to deal with a whole range of incidents and eventualities to ensure that patients can continue to access the treatment they need safely – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"We are committed to working alongside Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue to fully understand the impact of these proposals and to find a resolution that ensures the safety of the patients and the public that both organisations are proud to serve."

The plans have been drawn up at the same time as other proposed measures which would reduce the level of fire crew staffing at two stations.