3. Evacuate — patients in chairs included

Raise the alarm first

Shout, break glass, follow the panel. Call 999 from a safe place. Do not assume someone else has. Meet the fire service with a simple plan of who might still be inside if you know.

Patients

Stop treatment safely if you can (needle out, oxygen off if that is the protocol). Do not send someone in a wheelchair to the lift. Use the planned route and the people named in the PEEP. A relative in the waiting room is also your evacuation problem.

Do not re-enter

Assembly point. Head count against the day list as far as you can. Nobody goes back for a handbag or a lab work pan. Firefighters go back.

After

Significant event, insurers, landlords, and a review of why the door was wedged. Drill at a frequency your assessment requires — including a time when a patient is in the chair, not only at 8am before anyone arrives.

Always follow your current fire risk assessment and local fire-service advice.