May 29, 2018 2.41 pm This story is over 76 months old

£46m fire safety upgrades for Lincolnshire hospitals

The majority of recent fires were caused by ageing electrical equipment.

Boston Pilgrim Hospital. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

The trust which runs hospitals in Lincolnshire will invest £46 million on fire safety upgrades.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (ULHT) said the money was awarded following a number of fires caused by ageing electrical equipment.

It will see new fire doors, sprinklers, lighting, and a range of other improvements rolled out in Boston Pilgrim Hospital, Grantham Hospital and Lincoln County Hospital.

The project comes after Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue served ULHT two fire enforcement notices at Pilgrim and Lincoln hospitals, as well as a fire action plan (one level down from an enforcement notice), at Grantham hospital last summer.

In a report into fire safety at the hospitals, trust board members heard ageing electrical items had caused “the majority of recent fires”, and proposed that a bid for funding would improve infrastructure and safety.

Fire safety in public buildings has become a widely discussed topic since the Grenfell tower disaster and ULHT is keen to make the improvements – agreeing to spend £6 million of its own resources making the changes.

Previous fires in county hospitals have been put down to electrical items such as a kitchen microwave.

A spokesperson for ULHT said: “The trust requires £46 million of capital resources over three financial years to be compliant across the three sites and some of the improvements we’re making include increased staff training and putting in fire prevention systems, including modernising and upgrading our fire alarm systems, improving our fire doors and enhancing fire barriers around the hospitals.

“We have been supported during 2017/18 and 2018/19 with an external capital loan from the Department of Health (DH) of £36 million and have committed £6m of our own capital resources spread over the three financial years. 

“The trust has requested a further £4 million capital support from DH in 2019/20 to fund the final element of the £46 million programme of works and we are awaiting confirmation of this.”