Estates Alert - March 2019
Did you know, in March 2019 an Estates Alert was published (EFA/2019/003) to ensure all mental healthcare providers took action to check their buildings and patient areas were safe and all ‘anti ligature’ type curtain rails were installed and maintained in line with HTM66 and manufacturer’s instructions?
The call to action was for Estate & Facilities as well as Health & Safety Teams to carry out of all the tasks within 6 months of the Alert.
Talking to many of the Mental Health Trusts, very few have even done it yet!
The Raw Facts!
Sadly since this time there has been 8 deaths and 89 self-harm/attempted suicide incidents relating to curtains and/or curtain tracks within the NHS and Private Healthcare Groups!
How many more death or incidents will happen?
Is your Trust compliant and are all your curtain tracks fitted correctly and being maintained and annually tested in accordance to manufacturer’s instructions?
We have worked with a number of Trusts over the past months and it is clear there are so many poor installations of anti-ligature products that they are not aware of within their buildings. Contractors have been in and installed products but not fitted them in accordance to the manufacturer's guidelines resulting in ligatures and unsafe products being left in patient areas!
Reach out to the team here today and let’s discuss how we can make all your patient areas safe and compliant.
Email: enquiries@protects-plus.co.uk or Call: +44(0)345 646 0955
Visit: www.protects-plus.co.uk to find out more