Calls to review fire safety procedures in Leicestershire health centres

Calls to review fire safety procedures in Leicestershire health centres

Campaigners in Leicestershire have called for fire safety procedures to be reviewed in all of the city’s health centres.

It follows an incident at the recently-opened Belgrave Health Centre in which a patients’ group was unsure how to assist a member in a wheelchair down from the second floor during a fire alarm, reports thisisleicestershire.co.uk.

Suresh Nagar suffered bruising after fellow members of the Cross Street Surgery patients’ group struggled to get him to the ground floor on an evacuation chair.

Ballu Patel, chairman of the Leicester Mercury Patients’ Panel, claimed that the incident highlights the need for a review of fire safety procedures.

He said: “We must be sure staff are fully trained in fire evacuation and that there are fire marshals for every floor. In this instance, this doesn’t seem to have happened.

“The health centre is a public building with two busy GP practices and people visiting for other appointments. It is not practical to ask everyone to sign in and out.”

A spokesman for NHS Leicester City, the operator of the city’s health centres, revealed that visitors need to notify a trained member of staff if any member of their party is disabled

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