Firm action and constant vigilance are needed for hospitals and other healthcare sites to ensure safe environments where medical staff can concentrate on delivering quality health services to the public, says Alan Hazell, UK sales manager of electronic security solutions provider Secom plc.
Working in partnership with the health sector, Secom is providing expert advice on security improvement, crime reduction and confrontation avoidance – ultimately making hospitals the safe places they should be. Secom has devised a seminar programme for NHS Trusts, outlining practical solutions to the dramatic increase in assaults on health workers.
Alan Hazell says that with police no longer responding to personal attack calls from sites with a history of false alarms, specialist solutions are essential. He states: “Health professionals want to treat patients in safe but open environments. This is possible if hospital managers commit to a modest investment in round the clock professional monitored security. Modern electronic solutions enable people to access treatment or visit patients freely, and ensure a safe environment for staff.
“The greatest risk of personal attack is in areas such as rehabilitation centres, dispensaries, needle exchanges, A&E departments and health centres. For such areas, our VisionGuard solution provides a CCTV link to our Alarm Receiving Centre, where trained operators are on duty round the clock, ready to respond to dangerous situations. The link is triggered and the operator alerted by the pressing of call buttons in a suspicious or attack situation. The operator monitors the situation, if necessary calling for police assistance.”
He says VisionGuard is more cost effective than having a guard on duty, while 24 hour monitoring actually deters crime and avoids the loss of police cover. “Proven technology verifies the alarm, so there is no waste of police time. And if an attack takes place, we record the evidence off-site,” he adds.
Secom also offers intelligent staff attack and patient call systems, which cover both medical and security needs. The systems accurately locate emergencies, giving staff the reassurance that they can summon help from any location within the hospital.
Transmitters worn on the belt – and call buttons in patients’ rooms – are monitored by control panels, typically at nurses’ stations. Each panel supports up to 256 people, and up to eight panels can be combined in one system to monitor up to 2,048 devices.
