SAFETY & SECURITY SYSTEMS


A CASE IN POINT Pinpoint is a UK developer of personal staff attack alarm systems. Pinpoint systems have been installed internationally in a multitude of workplace environments. Although the core technology is the same for each system, Pinpoint regularly customises the system to interoperate with a customer’s existing security, access-control and other systems.


“Mental health professionals


are seven and a half times more likely to be assaulted than other healthcare professionals.”


St. George’s Hospital in Stafford is a perfect example of such a system in use.


Part of the South Staffordshire NHS Trust, St George’s has 12 inpatient wards and a large number of outpatient clinics, it is the main treatment centre for acute mental health problems in the trust. The hospital’s 400 staff look aſter patients with a wide range of mental health problems: from young people experiencing their first episode of psychosis to mentally disordered offenders, i.e. patients who have committed a criminal offence, and elderly patients with dementia.


In 2015, the hospital upgraded its staff personal alarm system with the help of Pinpoint Limited.


Martyn Perry, Head of Programme Management Office and Assistive Technology Strategy Lead at St. George’s, explained why the Pinpoint system was chosen: “When we reviewed our safety systems, we decided we needed to update our staff personal alarm system. The Pinpoint System, with state-of- the-art technology, meant we could protect more staff in more areas of the hospital than ever before, for the same or at a slightly lower cost than that of our existing system.”


Interoperability was also a major requirement by the trust.


“We needed a staff alarm system that linked into existing security systems elsewhere in the hospital. Pinpoint’s technology can provide that.


“On the wards, the staff have control screens in the central ward office. We also have a paging system from a different provider, but Pinpoint had no problem linking their alarm system to that. Our previous system only worked with its own proprietary components so we couldn’t interlink it,” said Martyn.


Given that the installation had to take place while the wards were occupied and without interrupting the daily running of the hospital, it needed to be carefully scheduled over quite a significant period of time.


Martyn continued: “Pinpoint handled the installation professionally with minimum disruption to the wards.


“The engineers did a really great job. Mental health wards can be particularly difficult locations to install products.”


In addition to the wards, Pinpoint also installed the system in the outside space of the hospital.


“Our extensive gardens play an important role in the recovery of mentally ill patients. Our previous system didn’t cover the outside space which made it more difficult for the staff supervising the gardens,” explained Martyn.


In a large hospital like St. George’s, staff personal attack alarms are activated on the wards almost every day, so the Trust was keen to source a high-performance, easy to use and reliable staff safety system.


“Working with Pinpoint has been a positive experience.”


“Feedback from the users of the system has been positive. The Pinpoint system is easier to use, requires very little training and the personal attack alarm devices are more robust,” Martyn added.


Apart from the physical installation on the wards and in the gardens, the new Pinpoint system had to be configured to work on the Trust’s network.


“Integration into our IT network wasn’t easy or straight forward.


“Pinpoint made some bespoke modifications to get the system to talk to our IT system as well as to work alongside a different paging solution.


“Working with Pinpoint has been a positive experience. The ward staff are happy to have a reliable alarm system and we, in the technology department, appreciate the personal dedication of the engineers and the very flexible service we receive from Pinpoint. They have taken a lot of time to install, explain and service the system. Any queries or maintenance issues are dealt with very quickly and competently,” Martyn concluded.


www.pinpoint.ltd.uk twitter.com/TomorrowsCare - 27 -


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50