Fire safety guidance - existing high rise domestic buildings and specialised housing and similar premises: impact and effectiveness

Appendix B: Case Studies - Unpaid Carers

This appendix contains three case studies of unpaid carers. These reflect the range of experiences from across the interviews.

Anna

Anna is student who helps to look after her gran, keeping her company, tidying up and helping with shopping. Her gran lives independently in sheltered housing, has early onset dementia, and is a hoarder.

Current approach: Anna has not looked for any information on fire risks and the family have not assessed her gran's fire risks. However, they are aware of a number of specific issues they have taken action about. For example, she has been careless with her cooker in the past. So they have bought a microwave and keep her stocked up with microwave meals that she can cook safely.

First impressions: Long, aimed professionals, but the information it contains is relevant to her as a carer and to her gran's situation.

I feel when they are trying to get information out to the public, they give you short sharp bursts of information rather than long, loads of pages.

The guidance and template: The guidance is very wordy but the template is easier to follow. All the risks she'd associate with her gran were covered.

Assessing risk: Not confident assessing the overall level of risk: there is no formula (for example, like you might find in quizzes) to calculate overall risk, to reach an objective measure.

I think that would be quite difficult because someone's idea of it being a high risk is maybe totally different to someone else's idea of it being a high risk. If I was to say to my gran that is a really high risk, she would say oh no, I'm fine, it's not a risk.

Actions: Doesn't think she will use the template to draw up an 'action plan', but would use it to identify what needs done. Barriers to implementing the actions included the potential cost of any repairs required. Would not feel confident dealing with electrical issues herself.

Changes:

• A more concise version aimed at non-professionals
• Would be really helpful to have information on who to contact to assist with different actions.

[Before I read the guidance] I didn't know who to contact if something needed changing, for example the fire alarm, I still don't know. I think it should have something like that in it, such as this is what you would need to do.

James

James runs a library service and has been his mum's carer for five years, visiting every day to check on her, cook for her, etc. His mum lives independently, has diabetes, reduced mobility, and some cognitive decline.

Current approach: Has not looked for any information on fire risks, but has previously had advice from the fire service on smoke alarms. First port of call would be the internet and the fire service. Has not carried out a risk assessment, but is aware that his mum has a few risky behaviors: she smokes in the house, is inclined to overload adaptors and uses an electric blanket. He is trying to reduce these risks.

I've definitely ticked her off about overloading the adapters. I always encourage her to smoke less and to smoke by the window, or at the back door rather than in the living room…. Her house is a new build, so it has a good smoke detection system which does gives some peace of mind.

First impressions: Comprehensive and coherent. It seems aimed at professionals; you have to get through quite a few pages before you realise it is also relevant to unpaid carers.

It's not something that you would expect the average person to digest because it's a bit dull, isn't it? Risk assessments don't make for great reading… I'm not saying it's not a good document, it's actually very good. It's very detailed and it does trigger a lot of points that you might not have considered or at least remind you of the dangers that are there.

The guidance and template: The guidance is written clearly, but it is very long. The template is straightforward. He would feel confident working through the template, he's used similar assessments at work.

Assessing risk: The risk assessment is also straightforward and intuitive. Not concerned that the overall risk assessment is subjective.

You might have to go away and research and then come back. You might have to go and speak to the person or the patient or whoever, in my case it's my mother obviously, and try and find out what her habits are. There might be a bit of work to do before you come to a conclusion about how much risk is present in the environment.

Actions: The table is simple, and using it means that all the family members can be engaged in implementing the actions so you are sharing the burden of dealing with the risks.

Changes:

• A concise, user-friendly, version, for non-professionals, with graphics

An element of graphic design would be important so that people were not turned off by an excess amount of text… But you're going to want to make it look reasonably formal, for your benefit and from the government. It's something you have to take seriously.

Kirsty

Kirsty is a nurse in the NHS, who cares for her mum. Her mum lives independently in her own home, she has COPD and early cognitive changes.

Current approach: Not looked for any information or advice on fire safety, but assumes she would go to the internet. Her mum is obsessive about switching things off at night and doesn't smoke. She does very little cooking, as Kirsty makes all her meals for her. Had never thought about fire prevention in the home before.

First impressions: Aimed mainly at professionals. Refers to shared housing a lot, so doesn't seem immediately applicable to her mum who lives in her own home. However, the sections on fire protection in particular could be relevant, and she will discuss with her mum.

The guidance and template: Easy to follow. Critically, she learned some things hadn't been aware of – in particular that emollient cream, which her mum uses, can be a fire risk.

If someone hadn't thought about fire safety it's good you can go right through everything to tick it off. So yeah, I think it'll definitely be helpful especially for people in their own home who don't have legislations, guidelines and all that to follow normally.

Actions: Likes the action plan approach, and would certainly make a note of all the things that need to change as a result of doing the risk assessment. Confident identifying risks and taking action on them.

Well, she did have candles before. We did actually have a bit of a confrontation about it because we weren't happy with her having candles in case she went to bed and forgot about them. But we've managed to reach a compromise… we've got her to plug-in oil burners, so they're electric and on a timer.

Changes:

• Information on who to go to for support

I suppose a wee bit more information to tell you who to go to, if you're needing help, who to ask about more support. I suppose especially for people that are carers in their own home. You don't have the back-up that companies or small nursing homes, or whatever, would have.