Inventures is an offshoot from NHS-Estates which has the responsibility
for all the buildings and equipment in the Health Care Service.
Inventures' role is to provide expert consultancy on all aspects
of technology and safety and, more significantly, to provide
management tools and processes for Health Care Trusts and for
the NHS as a whole.
Fire Safety is a complex issue in hospitals which depend
on a multitude of local factors such as the mobility of
patients, the positioning of wards, the age of the building
and so on.
Many hospitals cannot comply with all the fire safety standards
without vast structural changes because they were built
some time ago. But often these shortfalls can be compensated
for by a less expensive improvements.
Interragate configured Exapia with an expert system to understand
the knowledge of the Inventures Fire consultants. It can automatically
advise on the most cost effective way of planning improvements
so that a building complies with fire safety standards.
The expert system was then incorporated into a national
management system for Fire Safety in the Health Services,
similar to Doris, codenamed FRED.
FRED assists Fire Officers to identify risk, model action plans
and uses the expert system to guide the Officer in finding the
most efficient and cost effective way of using their budget
to improve safety.
