BS 7671 Amendment 4: Care Home Electrical Requirements

Care homes and nursing homes occupy a unique position under Section 710. Not all areas of a care home are medical locations, and Amendment 4 provides much-needed clarity on where medical location requirements apply and where standard domestic-type installation rules are sufficient.

The key distinction is whether body-contact applied parts are used. In a residential care home where residents live independently with minimal medical intervention, bedrooms and communal areas are generally not classified as medical locations. However, where nursing care is provided — medication administration with medical devices, wound care, blood pressure monitoring with body-contact sensors — the treatment room or nursing station where these procedures occur is classified as Group 1.

Amendment 4 introduces a practical flowchart for care home classification. Step one: does the room have body-contact applied parts in normal use? If yes, it is at minimum Group 1. Step two: are intracardiac procedures or life-support systems present? If yes, Group 2 (rare in care homes but possible in specialist nursing homes with ventilator-dependent residents). If no to step one, standard installation rules apply.

Resident bedrooms in nursing homes where medical devices are regularly used (hoists with electrical controls, pressure-relieving mattresses, suction equipment) require supplementary bonding within the bed zone per Group 1 requirements. Amendment 4 clarifies that the bed zone extends 2.5 metres from the centreline of the bed. Bed head trunking systems commonly used in nursing homes must incorporate a supplementary bonding terminal connected to all exposed-conductive-parts of the trunking and any medical equipment connections.

Nurse call systems, while low-voltage, must have their supply circuits protected per Section 710 requirements if the call point is within a Group 1 patient environment. This means dedicated RCD protection for the nurse call power supply circuit, separate from general lighting and socket outlet circuits.

Common areas (dining rooms, lounges, corridors) are not classified as medical locations unless medical procedures are routinely performed there. However, Amendment 4 notes that care homes should consider RCD protection on all socket outlets as good practice, given the vulnerability of the resident population.

ECalPro's Protection Calculator supports the Group 1 protection coordination and supplementary bonding calculations required for care home medical locations.