I don't know why the question of an RP being able to increase their staffing comes up. Staffing levels are dealt with by the government and CSCI and the landlord wouldn't be able to increase their staffing unless the government changed its funding policies
This does not include the privately run cash cow type home
The staffing levels are dealt with by CSCI purely on a care basis, there is no consideration of evacuation in the case of fire.
The messages on this thread have been concerned with the ability of the home to evacuate everybody in case of fire, which may require more people than is needed purely for care purposes.
For example a care home with 15 service users may reaquire only 1 member of staff at night for care purposes. This may be increased should there be an outbreak of sickness for example.
I would suggest that the 1 person may not be capable of carrying out an evacuation of the home unaided in case of fire.
For everyone, if you think that this type of incident is unlikely to occur, please have a look at the following link which details the Redcar Care Home Fire (the subject of a previous thread by jayjay)
http://ts10.gazettelive.co.uk/2007/06/care_home_fire_barrier_defecti.html
