A HOSPICE in Ulverston and all private care homes across the area are to be subject to fire safety inspections.

The move is to be undertaken at the request of the government's health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission, which wrote to care providers across the country this week including St Mary's Hospice in Ulverston.

Sir David Behan, CQC chief executive, said the checks should go ahead as a precautionary measure following the tragic events at Grenfell Tower earlier this month where at least 79 people are thought to have died.