NHS estates face enormous fire safety challenges with ageing infrastructure, vulnerable patients, and complex evacuation requirements.. The NHS Fire Safety Challenge NHS trusts manage over 1,300 hospital sites across England. Many buildings date from the 1960s 70s with significant fire safety deficiencies. Key Issues RAAC — Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete panels with reduced fire resistance Compartmentation breaches — decades of ad hoc service installations Outdated fire alarm systems — many still on analogue systems Evacuation complexity — bed bound patients, operating theatres, critical care Backlog maintenance — estimated £10.2 billion maintenance backlog across NHS HTM 05 02 Framework Firecode HTM 05 02 provides the fire safety framework for NHS premises: Progressive horizontal evacuation as primary strategy Compartmentation to allow phased evacuation Fire engineering approaches for complex buildings Risk based approach to fire safety management For healthcare fire safety consultancy, contact us.