Fire safety fixes are expected to begin at a hospital building in Dartford after the cladding was found to be non-compliant with fire safety standards.
As reported by Kent Online on 1 May 2024, Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust will be moving ahead with remedial work at Darent Valley Hospital to remove dangerous cladding from its A&E department, with the work expected to begin in the “coming weeks”.
It follows a recent risk assessment at the hospital, which identified serious fire safety issues, including a “risk of fire spread and consequential risk of harm or death” to patients, staff, and visitors in the event of a fire. Notably, the report revealed that the cladding did not comply with the “fire safety requirements that were in place at the time of the build” over 20 years ago.
Further issues were also identified in the assessment, including a “compromise in cavity barriers”, affecting the building’s compartmentalisation, and problems with the fire alarm system where there were delays in “identifying [the] source of fire due to incorrect programming”.
While the Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust Board was made aware of the risk in its December 2023 report, another Chief Executive Report from February 2024 confirmed that the Trust had been working closely with Kent Fire and Rescue Service to improve fire safety measures at the hospital:
“As many of you will have seen, the Trust was the subject of news items recently regarding fire safety at the Darent Valley Hospital site. The risk that was raised and discussed at the last Board meeting was specifically about the potential for the spread of fire. We are working closely with our PFI partners to ensure that remedial work that is required is done in a timely manner.
“The safety of our patients, visitors and staff is paramount, and we have recently been visited by Kent Fire and Rescue Service who we continue to work closely with and displayed the measures that the Trust has in place, including fire patrols, trained fire wardens and additional training that has been put in place for all staff,” the report states.
According to Kent Online, an “independent authorising engineer for the Trust” stated that the fire safety issues at the hospital needed to be “urgently” addressed.
It is understood that the Trust had also been considering an expansion of the hospital’s ICU unit; however, as the report indicates, cladding work will take precedence. The current early projected cost to resolve the cladding issue is £3 million.
(Photograph by Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust)