Nurse Call & Disabled
Toilet Alarms

BAFE-certified engineers with over three decades of combined experience. London and Kent. Updated September 2026

Key facts

Compliant with HTM 08-03 and BS 8300-2

Professional Nurse Call & Disabled Toilet Alarms in London and Kent

Reliable nurse call and disabled toilet alarm systems provide essential support for safety, independence, and rapid assistance when it is needed most. Our solutions are designed to provide clear and immediate alerts, enabling staff, carers, or designated responders to quickly identify and respond to assistance requests. From healthcare and care environments to commercial and public buildings, systems can be tailored to suit the specific needs of each premises, with features such as visual and audible indicators, reset facilities, pull cords, emergency buttons, and remote notification options. By providing a dependable means of communication in an emergency, these systems help create safer, more accessible environments for everyone.

At a glance

Two related systems, two different standards

Nurse call and disabled toilet alarms are often specified and maintained together, particularly in care settings, but they answer to different frameworks and it matters to keep them distinct.

Nurse call

HTM 08-03

A Health Technical Memorandum from the Department of Health, covering hospital bedhead services including nurse call and panic alarm systems. Guidance, not a British Standard, though widely followed as best practice in care homes too.

Disabled toilet alarms

BS 8300-2:2018

A genuine British Standard for accessible and inclusive building design, driven by the Equality Act 2010. Sets specific technical requirements for the alarm itself.

What BS 8300-2 requires of a disabled toilet alarm

A red pull cord with two 50mm diameter loops, positioned at defined heights so it can be reached from the floor
Operable even if the person has fallen
Both an audible and a visual alert at a staffed location
Reset only from the point the alarm was raised, so a call cannot be cancelled without being attended
Must never be confused, audibly or visually, with a fire alarm

Is this a legal requirement?

Yes for disabled toilet alarms. The Equality Act 2010 requires accessible facilities in buildings open to the public, and BS 8300-2 sets the technical standard your alarm is judged against. Nurse call systems in hospitals are held to HTM 08-03 as the recognised standard of good practice, and while not always a strict legal mandate in care homes, following it is how providers demonstrate safety to the CQC and other regulators.

How Smartec does this

Our engineers install and maintain both nurse call and disabled toilet alarm systems fully in line with HTM 08-03 and BS 8300-2 respectively, including the specific technical requirements each standard sets. Every test and visit is logged in your Digital Logbook on the Smartec Client Portal.

What does installation involve?

Site survey identifying call points, bedhead locations or accessible toilet cubicles

System design to HTM 08-03 or BS 8300-2 as applicable

Installation of call points, pull cords, indicator panels and control equipment

Commissioning and full functional testing

Certification and handover, with the system added to the Smartec Client Portal

Who needs this?

✓

Hospitals

Nurse call to HTM 08-03, plus accessible toilet alarms throughout

✓

Care homes

Nurse call best practice, disabled toilet alarms where accessible facilities exist

✓

Offices & public buildings

Disabled toilet alarms required under the Equality Act 2010

✓

Schools

Accessible facilities for pupils, staff and visitors alike

New regulation to know

The Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) Regulations 2025 (“Residential PEEPs”) come into force on 6 April 2026, introducing a duty for person-centred evacuation plans for relevant residents in certain residential buildings — a significant, recent change that most existing guidance on this topic has not yet caught up with.

Nurse Call Project

Kudos Healthcare Portfolio

Smartec provides nurse call systems across the Kudos healthcare portfolio, keeping multiple sites compliant with HTM 08-03 and tracked through the Smartec Client Portal.

Toilet Alarm Project

Pilgrims' Way Primary School

As part of an integrated life safety and security installation at Pilgrims’ Way Primary School, Smartec fitted BS 8300-2 compliant disabled toilet alarms throughout the site.

FAQs

What is HTM 08-03?: A Health Technical Memorandum from the Department of Health covering hospital bedhead services, including nurse call and panic alarm systems.
Is a disabled toilet alarm a legal requirement?: Yes, under the Equality Act 2010, wherever an accessible toilet is provided. BS 8300-2 sets the technical standard.
What must a disabled toilet alarm pull cord look like?: A red cord with two 50mm diameter loops, reachable from floor level, operable even if the person has fallen.
Can a disabled toilet alarm be confused with a fire alarm?: No. BS 8300-2 specifically requires the two to be distinguishable, both audibly and visually.
Is HTM 08-03 mandatory in care homes?: Not always a strict legal mandate, but widely followed as the recognised standard of good practice, and how providers demonstrate safety to the CQC.
Where must a disabled toilet alarm be resettable from?: Only the point where it was raised, so a call cannot be cancelled without someone attending first.