Fire safety work complete at Devon hospital

Inpatients at a Devon hospital have been returned to their normal ward after NHS Property Services successfully completed a fire safety improvement project.

From 21 May 2018, beds in Exmouth Hospital’s Doris Heard Ward were temporarily moved to the vacant Geoffrey Willoughby Ward while a £50,000 project to safely remove asbestos and improve fire resistance took place.

The project, which also included a deep clean and air testing, was completed by Integral to schedule and patients have now been moved back into Doris Heard Ward. The number of beds has been restored to 16 from the reduced number of 12 that were available during the work due to the constraints of the Geoffrey Willoughby Ward.

Rosemary Kearney, Senior Facilities Management Business Manager for NHS Property Services (NHSPS) in the South West, said: “We’d like to thank patients and our local partners for bearing with us while the work was completed.

“This important project will ultimately improve the fabric of Exmouth Hospital for patients for years to come.”

The need for the work was identified as part of a survey undertaken by NHSPS.