Healthcare slip testing.
For patients who can't afford to fall.

Why healthcare slip testing has higher stakes

A slip in a hospital is rarely a simple slip. The casualty is, by definition, already in a healthcare setting — and often frail, post-operative, sedated or elderly. An impact that a healthy adult would shake off produces hip fractures, subdural haematomas, and in-patient extended-stay costs measured in tens of thousands of pounds. The NHS spends a material share of its clinical negligence budget on in-facility falls, and the CQC's scrutiny of falls prevention has sharpened considerably since the publication of the 2022 NICE guideline NG249 on falls in older people.

Slip testing — specifically UKAS accredited pendulum testing — provides the one thing falls prevention policies otherwise lack: independently verified, quantified evidence of the floor's contribution to slip risk.

The healthcare environments we test

Acute hospital wards and A&E

Vinyl sheet and welded vinyl are the default ward flooring, typically specified for cleanability and infection control rather than slip resistance. The cleaning regime — alcohol-based wipes, chlorine disinfectant, frequent mopping — materially affects PTV over a floor's service life. A&E department floors are subject to blood, vomit and intravenous fluid contamination, all of which behave differently from water on a pendulum test.

Operating theatres and sterile areas

Conductive vinyl and anti-static floors in operating theatres have specific electrical performance requirements that sometimes conflict with slip resistance. Pendulum testing documents what the trade-off has produced in practice.

Care homes and residential care

Care home slip claims are an emerging and increasingly well-funded area of personal injury litigation. Many care homes were built or refurbished in the 1990s and 2000s with carpet throughout — replaced over time with vinyl or LVT that was selected on cleanability and aesthetics, with slip performance rarely considered. A full estate pendulum survey often reveals communal lounges and dining rooms sitting below PTV 36 in the wet.

Dementia units

Dementia-friendly design increasingly uses flooring to create visual contrast and wayfinding cues. Some of these products have strong slip resistance, others less so. Pendulum testing verifies that the design intent has not inadvertently created a hazard.

GP surgeries and primary care

Small clinical premises are often overlooked in risk assessment programmes. Entrance lobbies, waiting rooms, and corridors between consulting rooms see high footfall from patients who are, by definition, unwell or mobility-impaired.

Hydrotherapy, physio and rehabilitation

Pool surrounds, changing rooms and plant rooms in hospital physiotherapy departments are a high-risk specific subset. Barefoot pendulum testing with the Slider 55 (TRL) rubber is the appropriate protocol for these areas.

The barefoot question

Hospital wards are walked by patients, visitors, and staff — each with different footwear. Bathroom floors, hydrotherapy surrounds and bedside areas may be walked barefoot. BS EN 16165 Annex C provides for both shod-foot (Slider 96) and barefoot (Slider 55) testing. A competent healthcare slip survey tests to both protocols where appropriate, under UKSRG Issue 6 guidance.

Healthcare PTV targets

CQC, HSE and clinical governance

The Care Quality Commission's fundamental standards under Regulation 12 — Safe care and treatment require providers to do all that is reasonably practicable to mitigate identified risks. A falls prevention policy that quotes "suitable flooring" without measured PTV evidence is substantially weaker than one backed by a UKAS accredited pendulum report. In CQC inspections post-2023, inspectors are increasingly asking to see the evidence underpinning the risk assessment, not just the policy document.

For NHS trusts, the parallel evidentiary requirement sits within the NHS Standard Contract and Healthcare Standards Wales / HIS Scotland equivalents, each of which places accountability on the trust board for environmental safety.