Whitby Community Hospital (Healthcare - Latitude)

A range of services are delivered from this newly refurbished area of the hospital, including a new urgent treatment centre, podiatry services, physiotherapy, audiology and much more. The Tower Block is also home to the Memorial Ward, where those who need to stay on the ward (and their families) will have access to accessible and comfortable spaces and facilities.

Tees Fire Systems Limited is one of Hochiki Europe’s System Partners, a nationwide network of trained, professional and accredited fire alarm companies, recognised in the UK for their high levels of expertise, workmanship, customer service and quality. Having worked with Hochiki Europe for over a decade, the team at Tees Fire, led by Managing Director David Hynes, said:

“We have used Hochiki Europe products for well over a decade now and having worked on several hospital installation projects over the years, each time we recommend Hochiki because they are always reliable and cost effective.”

For the project at Whitby Community Hospital, Hochiki Europe's Latitude system was chosen because it has a powerful cause-and-effect capacity, ideal because hospitals often require a system which allows for phased evacuations. Because of the number of vulnerable people within a hospital, avoiding widespread panic is essential, and with a Hochiki Latitude system in place should a fire break out, the area which is immediately impacted can be evacuated, whilst simultaneously triggering warning signals to neighbouring areas. This would automatically alert nurses and doctors to a possible emergency, giving them time to prepare for an evacuation avoiding panic.

“Latitude worked seamlessly with other systems too, such as the lifts and the plant room, via the building management system. This means a controlled and safe evacuation can be achieved, keeping patient safety the number one priority if an emergency should arise.”

“We installed LCD touchscreen repeaters at nurses' stations using the Hochiki Latitude Vision repeaters, and trained staff how to use and understand the repeaters, using the intuitively designed interface. They are also very compact in their design compared to others on the market, at not much bigger than a tablet they don’t take up lots of room in a busy nurse's station.”

The added benefit of using Hochiki Europe devices in a hospital environment is that they can be flexible depending on the use of the rooms or wards they are placed in. Using a universal, electronics-free mounting base, sensors, sounders and beacons can easily ‘clip in and clip out’ allowing for flexible fire safety design and easier device maintenance.

With the installation project completed in October 2021, the team faced the challenge of working alongside other contractors during the global pandemic, meaning careful management of teams.

“In one respect it was tricky because of the pandemic, but it worked in our favour because we were able to have an entire floor to ourselves to install and test the system, working our way through the building methodically.”

Commenting on the successful installation Hynes said

“I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Hochiki Europe, especially for healthcare estate projects. The team are knowledgeable and always ready to help should we need it, especially the technical support team. Our account manager has lots of experience in the industry and we trust him and the team to provide us with a cost effective and compliant solution.”

Mick Hall, System Sales Manager at Hochiki Europe said

“Tees Fire are one of our biggest independent system’s partners and have worked with Hochiki Europe for a long time, so there is a trusted relationship there. The install went so well that we have helped Tees Fire to deliver a CPD to the staff at the hospital on False Alarm Management, something that is critical to understand for the responsible person(s), especially in a healthcare environment.”

Tees Fire have an ongoing relationship with the NHS property services and are currently employed by them on site to carry out ongoing maintenance of the Hochiki Europe life safety devices.