Your residents cannot
evacuate themselves.
Your assessment must reflect that.
Fire safety in a care home, GP surgery, or healthcare setting is categorically different from a standard commercial premises. The occupant profile demands a higher standard of assessment — and an assessor who understands it. We work with care providers and healthcare operators across the North West to make sure your fire safety regime is fit for purpose.
Regulatory bodies you answer to
Regulation 15 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 requires premises to be safe, properly maintained, and suitable for the people using them. Fire safety is a core element of CQC inspection.
Requires a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment for all non-domestic premises. In healthcare settings this must account for occupant vulnerability and evacuation capability.
Imposes a general duty of care to employees and non-employees — including patients and residents — on healthcare premises operators.
Requires Responsible Persons to provide fire safety information to relevant persons and maintain records of all fire safety measures and checks.
The problems we
hear most often
Care homes and healthcare operators face pressures that most fire safety consultants do not fully understand. These are the three situations that bring people to us.
"Our CQC inspection flagged fire safety concerns. We need to respond quickly and credibly."
A CQC action plan is not the same as a fire risk assessment, but the two must align. We can carry out a full assessment quickly, identify exactly what the inspection flagged, and give you documented evidence of action taken — the kind of response that satisfies both the CQC and the fire authority.
"We have residents with complex mobility and cognitive needs. I'm not sure our evacuation plan actually works."
Most generic fire risk assessments do not go deeply enough into evacuation for care settings. We assess the practicality of your evacuation strategy for the specific residents you have — including Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) — and identify whether your staffing levels and procedures are realistic under fire conditions.
"We're in an older converted building. I'm not sure the fire doors and compartmentation are adequate."
Many care homes occupy Victorian or Edwardian properties that were never designed for their current use. Compartmentation failures — doors that don't close properly, penetrations in fire walls, inadequate self-closers — are among the most common and most serious findings in care home assessments. We identify them clearly and tell you what remedial action is required.
Hazards that require
specialist assessment
A standard commercial fire risk assessment will not capture the specific hazards present in a care or healthcare environment. These are the areas that require particular attention.
Vulnerable residents & patients
Elderly residents, patients with limited mobility, those with cognitive impairment, and individuals under sedation or anaesthetic all require specific evacuation planning. A PEEP must be in place for every resident who cannot self-evacuate.
Medical oxygen storage
Oxygen dramatically accelerates fire spread and intensity. Storage locations, cylinder quantities, and proximity to ignition sources must be specifically assessed and controlled. This is a frequent gap in generic assessments.
Compartmentation failures
Older converted buildings often have inadequate compartmentation — fire doors that don't seal correctly, service penetrations through fire walls, and missing intumescent protection. These failures directly affect the time available for evacuation.
Alcohol gels & pharmaceuticals
Hand sanitiser dispensers, pharmaceutical storage, and clinical waste all represent fire loads that require specific assessment. Their location relative to ignition sources and escape routes is a key consideration.
Medical equipment loads
Medical devices, specialist beds, hoists, and other equipment create electrical loads that older building infrastructure may not have been designed to handle. Electrical fire risk must be assessed alongside the broader fire safety picture.
Night-time staffing levels
A care home evacuation that works with a full daytime team may be completely unworkable at 3am with a skeleton crew. Your fire risk assessment must reflect realistic staffing scenarios — not just peak conditions.
A note on Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs)
Every resident or patient who cannot self-evacuate in an emergency must have an individual PEEP — a documented plan that sets out exactly how they will be moved to safety, by whom, and using what equipment. The absence of PEEPs is one of the most common fire safety failures identified in CQC inspections, and one of the easiest to address once identified. We can assess your existing PEEP arrangements and identify any gaps as part of our fire risk assessment.
Three services.
One point of contact.
Fire risk assessments, fire door inspections, and fire safety training — coordinated by one consultant who understands the specific demands of a care or healthcare setting.
Fire risk assessments
From £295 per assessmentA healthcare-specific assessment that goes beyond the standard commercial checklist — covering occupant vulnerability, evacuation capability, and the specific hazards present in your setting.
- Full premises assessment including all clinical areas
- Evacuation strategy review for vulnerable occupants
- PEEP gap analysis included as standard
- Medical oxygen and clinical hazard assessment
- Written report suitable for CQC and fire authority
- Prioritised actions — critical, significant, general
Fire door inspections
From £14 per doorFire door integrity is critical in a care setting — a failed door on an escape route or bedroom corridor can mean the difference between a contained incident and a serious one. We assess every component.
- Frame, leaf, intumescent seals, hinges & hardware
- Self-closing devices and cold smoke seals
- Corridor and bedroom door inspection
- Photographic evidence per door
- Prioritised remedial recommendations
Fire safety training
From £395 per sessionPractical, care-setting-specific training for your team. We cover the realities of evacuating a care home — including assisted evacuation techniques, managing residents under stress, and night-shift procedures.
- Fire marshal training for care staff
- Assisted evacuation techniques & equipment
- Hands-on extinguisher use on a live fire
- Night-shift and skeleton-crew evacuation scenarios
- Certificates issued to all attendees
The regulatory framework
for care & healthcare
Care providers operate under a more complex regulatory framework than most other sectors. Fire safety runs through all of it.
The CQC does not carry out fire safety inspections directly — but fire safety is embedded throughout the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Regulation 15 requires premises to be safe, properly maintained, and suitable. An inadequate fire safety regime will feature in a CQC inspection report, and repeated or serious failures can result in enforcement action, conditions on registration, or cancellation of registration.
At the same time, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 gives the local fire authority independent enforcement powers. A fire authority inspector can issue improvement notices, prohibition notices, or initiate prosecution entirely independently of the CQC. Care providers can find themselves managing two separate regulatory processes simultaneously.
A fire risk assessment carried out by a competent assessor — qualified, experienced in healthcare settings, and properly documented — is the single most important piece of evidence you can produce to both regulators. It demonstrates that you have taken your obligations seriously and that you have a clear plan of action.
CQC Regulation 15
Always appliesPremises used for regulated activities must be safe, suitable, and properly maintained. Fire safety is assessed as part of every CQC inspection under this regulation.
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
Always appliesThe Responsible Person must carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment and implement all necessary fire safety measures. Failure to comply can result in unlimited fines or imprisonment.
BS 9999 & BS 9997
Best practice standardThe relevant British Standards for fire safety in buildings and fire risk management systems. Assessments aligned to these standards carry greater credibility with both the CQC and fire authority.
HTM 05-03 (NHS guidance)
NHS & shared buildingsHealth Technical Memorandum 05-03 sets out fire safety guidance for NHS premises. Relevant for GP surgeries, health centres, and care homes operating within NHS-owned or managed buildings.
Experience you can
put in a report.
Tim founded Fletcher Risk Management to bring genuine expertise and personal accountability to fire safety consultancy in the North West. With more than 30 years in the fire industry, he has assessed a wide range of healthcare and care premises across the region. When you book with Fletcher Risk, Tim carries out the work — the same qualified assessor every time, not a subcontractor.
- ABBE Level 4 Diploma in Fire Risk Assessment
- NEBOSH National General Certificate
- FPA Fire Safety Management Certificate
- Member — Institute of Fire Safety Managers
- Member — Fire Protection Association
Sam oversees operations and brings both fire safety qualifications and a legal background to the practice. For care providers navigating CQC action plans alongside fire authority requirements, Sam's ability to read and interpret the regulatory framework from a legal perspective is genuinely useful.
- ABBE Level 4 Certificate in Fire Risk Assessment
- Bachelor of Laws (LLB)
- Master of Business Administration (MBA)
- 10+ years hospitality fire safety experience
"We have engaged Fletcher Risk Management to carry out surveys on a number of our sites for a very important client. The work produced exceeded our expectations by far. I would definitely recommend using this company." — Marie Morgan · EIS Ltd ★★★★★
"Without doubt one of the best and most professional businesses I have used for our Fire Risk Assessment. Tim Fletcher is a highly regarded professional in his field. Don't take a chance — protect your staff, protect your building."
"We have engaged Fletcher Risk Management to carry out surveys on a number of our sites. I would never hesitate to send Tim to meet the staff on these sites — always professional, friendly and accommodating."
"Thorough, professional, and excellent value. The report was clear and the action points prioritised in a way that made it easy to know exactly what to tackle first. Would recommend without hesitation."
Book an assessment
built for your setting.
Whether you are responding to a CQC inspection, reviewing existing documentation, or setting up a new premises — we can help. Call us for an honest conversation with no obligation.