The Hidden Hazards in Britain’s Care Homes

The Coroner's Report Includes a familiar tale

As a lifelong Manchester United fan (and being born a few miles from Old Trafford) I was saddened like many football fans to hear of the sad demise of England’s greatest ever player; Sir Bobby Charlton.

I was fortunate enough to see him play once or twice when my Dad took me. Occasionally I would see him around the part of town where I lived; a far cry from the multi-million-pound estates of today’s overpaid show ponies. Many United players lived in relatively modest detached houses without iron glad gates, twitching CCTV cameras or swarms of photographers. Sir Bobby Charlton was very much a normal human being and a modest man who just happened to have a face recognised all over the world.

I was therefore, more saddened to read in the coroner’s report, that although battling dementia, his life was ultimately shortened by a preventable injury caused by a simple fall.

Jacqueline Devonish, the senior coroner for Cheshire, concluded that his death was accidental and gave the cause as trauma in the lungs, a fall and dementia but saw fit to remark that the fall was exacerbated by “striking a windowsill and possibly a radiator”.

I recall another less recent case of an elderly lady who fell whilst in care against the radiator in her room and died as a result. The radiator had become detached from the wall and fell onto a visitor.

Our work in the Healthcare Sector & Dementia care, has made me very attuned to the constant drip drip drip of incidents involving radiators, and very often those concealed in ‘safety casings’.

Despite several reports detailing the hygienic issues created by radiators and their casings, the low surface temperature (LST) requirements being obviated by the fine mesh on anti-ligature covers, and covering a hard steel radiator with sharp edges with a hard steel cover and hard steel faces doesn’t bode well for a safe landing in the event of a trip or a fall. Even so, they still seem to be the go-to heating solution in care homes and healthcare.

SO why are they still so widely specified and installed?

Dr Faris and his Infection control Team at Trafford General and MRI combatted C.Difficile infection and MRSA, being the first NHS facility in the country that lasted 1,000 days without a reported infection.  When admitting defeat and faced with ‘LST’ radiators, removing the covers to clean was a impractical nonstarter in a busy ward or hospital corridor, and even then, cleaning between the panels was an impossibility and the harmful spores that spread air borne illnesses, including COVID could hide with impunity.

Hospital Guidelines require radiators in areas of patient care to be cleaned ‘once a week’. Dr Faris knew that some radiators hadn’t been cleaned inside for 10 years. In order to comply with the AHCP (Association of Healthcare Cleaning Professional) Guidelines that stipulate that radiators and covers should be cleaned inside and out every week would cost the NHS £1billion pounds a year. Therefore, it didn’t happen.

Secure mental health units require ‘anti ligature’ fixtures and fittings to prevent individuals who may self-harm, from finding a ligature point to create a noose or ‘crocodile roll’ point with which to asphyxiate themselves.

As a result, Low surface Temperature (LST) radiators to comply with anti-ligature requirements, installed tiny mesh grilles, through which a cord cannot be threaded. Problem solved? Hardly! The manufacturer of such anti ligature covers themselves must admit in their literature that they cannot guarantee LST compliance due to the poor air flow through the covers, leading to the surface temperature often approaching that of the radiator inside.

Rising energy costs and the drive to push NetZero is now throwing up additional challenges that have Estate Managers throwing their hands up in despair.

To utilise renewables such as Heat Pumps - radiators need to get whole lot bigger and whilst they become naturally LST as a result, they still need a safety casing as they have hard edges, exposed pipework, and potential ligature points.

Our work with the NHS Infection Control Team at Trafford General led to the development of the ‘EasyClean’ a healthcare version of the ThermaSkirt heating system.

Naturally a safe surface temperature (and thus immediately ‘Heat Pump ready’) it has no exposed pipes, no ligature points, can withstand violent and challenging behaviour and is safe in the event of a trip and a fall.

For many installations the EasyClean is more energy efficient and cost saving than a large radiator and a purpose-built cover.

It will be interesting to see if other Healthcare providers take a good hard look at their heating strategy in light of the coroner’s report into Sir Bobby’s decease. Potentially reviewing their energy and maintenance costs and seeking an alternative that has already been installed in hundreds of dementia care and assisted living developments throughout the UK.

Martin Wadsworth is a lifelong Man Utd fan, & the founder and Managing Director of Discrete Heat Co Ltd, UK Manufacturers of the ThermaSkirt, EasyClean and ThermaCurve radiant heating systems, which aims to replace radiators in areas of mental health, dementia care and assisted living.

www.discreteheat.com