Fire evacuation exercise to be held at Western Isles Hospital

NHS Western Isles is informing the public that a fire evacuation exercise is set to take place in Western Isles Hospital on Tuesday October 1.

The exercise, which will not impact on patient services or visitors, will start at 7pm, and will involve a test evacuation of an unoccupied ward on level three of the hospital. For the purposes of the exercise, the ward will occupied by staff volunteers, acting as patients with differing levels of mobility.

The alarm will be raised by operating the remote fire alarm unit, which will be available on the ward. The alarm will sound only in the ward to avoid undue alarm or concern to patients and visitors in the hospital.

The Fire Service will be attending and taking part in the exercise in order to make the exercise as realistic as possible. The Fire Service Control Centre will be advised in advance and a 999 call will be made by hospital staff.

It is likely that the Fire Service will be standing by at the hospital but will not take any action until the normal attendance time from the alarm being raised is reached.

Hospital staff will be on hand to warn visitors to the hospital of any potential hazards caused by activities due to the exercise, for example trip hazards associated with Fire Service hose being laid out.

The exercise is essential to test the fire evacuation procedures for the hospital and whilst we do not anticipate any major problems, we apologise in advance for any inconvenience that may be experienced during the exercise.