Hospices and Care Homes

 

What you need to know

There have been several high-profile incidents in hospices where patients’ lives may have been saved or their injuries limited if firebreaks had been fitted.
Patients should never be permitted to smoke while using oxygen therapy, even if they are outdoors. Birthday candles, e-cigarettes, or other sources of ignition and intense heat can also pose a risk and should be avoided.

 

Home Oxygen Service

Where a patient’s oxygen therapy is provided under the NHS home oxygen service and installed by a home oxygen service provider (Air Liquide, Baywater Healthcare, BOC, or Dolby Vivisol), firebreaks will be fitted by the provider.  

More information about home oxygen fires in England.

 

Equipment supplied by the hospice or care home

When a hospice or care home provides its own oxygen concentrator, it is the hospice’s/home’s responsibility to install firebreaks in accordance with the instructions for use provided with the oxygen concentrator.

Where a hospice or care home provides other equipment (oxygen concentrators, liquid Dewars/units, or cylinders), it is required or advisable to fit firebreaks:

• Firebreaks are required on all oxygen concentrator installations under the European Medical Device Directive (MDD)
• Firebreaks are recommended for all oxygen therapy as a way of meeting the regulatory requirement to “reduce the risk as far as possible” and “take account of the generally acknowledged state of the art”
• Healthcare establishments such as hospices are not strictly obligated by the MDD but open themselves up to liability if they use medical devices off-label

Find out more about the regulations and when you need to fit a firebreak

 

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