With it having become increasingly important to control the spread of coronavirus by monitoring key symptoms, such as a fever, Cardiff-based multi-brand security equipment distributor, Oprema, and partner, video surveillance specialist, Dahua Technology, have donated a thermal imaging solution which can reportedly automatically detect a person’s temperature in under a second, without the need for personal contact, to reduce the risk to the key workers and patients undertaking manual monitoring at the Welsh capital’s University Hospital Llandough.
Oprema said: “The current process at many hospitals involves frontline key workers using a handheld infrared thermometer to measure peoples’ temperatures as they enter, but this necessitates the individual monitoring getting very close to the potentially infected person. These manual checks are also very time-consuming.”
The Dahua Thermal Solution has a claimed accuracy of ±0.3℃, and eliminates the need for handheld thermometers, reducing the staff risk, and speeding up patient entry. Oprema said: “By combining the latest CCTV and thermal temperature measurement technology, the system can automatically detect if a person has a higher-than-normal body temperature, and can screen individuals or larger groups simultaneously. Using a handheld forehead thermometer to measure the temperatures of 5,000 people would take over four hours. With the Dahua Thermal Solution – which can measure three people per second – measuring 5,000 people takes just 30 minutes.”
The system donated has been installed in the Trauma & Orthopaedics Department at University Hospital Llandough. Should somebody enter the space with a high temperature, an alarm sounds as an indication they are potentially carrying a virus, and should be checked by a medical professional. Chris Wilson, Consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Trauma & Orthopaedics, said: “We need to keep our clinic going during the current crisis, now for trauma patients, and later on for patients suffering with pain and disability waiting for urgent assessment. The thermal solution donated will be a huge help to our team in screening patients quickly and effectively, without putting them at unnecessary infection risk themselves.”
Matthew Epps, Oprema’s MD, added: “Being our local hospital, we wanted to donate the Dahua Thermal Solution to University Hospital Llandough to help in the fight against COVID-19, reducing the risk to our community’s frontline key workers, and freeing up time for them to perform other critical functions. The same solution has been implemented in other environments requiring the screening of a high volume of people since the start of the pandemic – including airports and NHS Nightingale hospitals.”
