Medway NHS Foundation Trust - Compartmentation Survey

Medway NHS Foundation Trust (Medway) is an NHS organisation that runs Medway Maritime Hospital, Kent's largest and busiest hospital, dealing with around 400,000 patients annually.

Project Overview

Medway appointed Pennington Choices to undertake a full compartmentation survey across Medway Maritime Hospital’s Green Zone over a three-month period. The Green Zone is the large western section of the hospital with dedicated outpatient units, wards, and clinics.

The goal was to identify any breaches and defects in walls, floors, and ceilings as well as visually assessing fire doors to understand the suitability in relation to their notional or known fire rating. This information allowed Medway to cost plan for remedial works to ensure the safety of staff, patients, and visitors in the hospital.

Our Approach

Our surveyors created a plan to cover manageable areas within the Green Zone whilst adhering to agreed-upon timeframes for each area. Regular progress meetings were held with Medway's project management team, discussing details such as progress updates, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), access challenges, continuous improvement methods, process reviews, necessary adjustments, and recommendations. We adapted our survey approach to minimise disruption in the live and operational hospital environment.

We successfully carried out a full compartmentation survey, which included:

• A current floor plan review identifying high-risk rooms and creating compartment plans.
• Checking all walls, floors, and ceilings for breaches and defects using our survey and inspection software, Bolster, to log any compartment breaches digitally. Any photos and comments were also logged here and then handed over to the remedial contractors to ensure all information was recorded in the same place.
• A visual inspection of fire doors to assess their suitability in relation to their notional or known fire rating.
• An identification of the location of dampers and older (fusible link) type dampers.
• Noting all visual identification of presumed issues within the areas surveyed, for example, structural defects.
• Updating any compartment lines in liaison with fire engineers and reflecting the requirements of the current fire strategy, any relevant codes of practice, and regulations.

Our Achievements

Our Compartmentation Survey successfully identified all defects in the Green Zone, enabling third-party contractors to propose remediation solutions for Medway. The Bolster software used has provided Medway with a golden thread of information, allowing them to make informed cost projections and remedial plans to further the overall fire safety of the hospital.

Seamless communication with Medway's project management team and stakeholders, including ward managers and infection control, ensured a positive working relationship. Our commitment to timelines and respectful working conditions has strengthened our partnership with Medway further.