FEATURE


A PRESCRIPTION FOR SECURER PREMISES


Security is a major concern for any public institution, but hospitals present planning officers and health and safety professionals with a unique challenge.


Beyond the ethical responsibility to keep patients and staff safe, the abundance of expensive medical equipment and potentially harmful drugs also puts medical facilities at a heightened risk of theft, whether pre-planned or a simple act of opportunism.


Despite this risk, hospital security must sit alongside another equally important priority for healthcare facilities: the need for a friendly, calming and open design that makes patients and visitors feel at ease.


While managers want to achieve a good balance between these aspects and may look to cutting-edge new technologies, the severe financial constraints in place, well documented recruitment challenges and issues in hospital maintenance, all have the potential to put pressure on introducing completely new systems.


KEY TO HEALTH AND SAFETY SUCCESS Traka is working with facilities managers in healthcare


environments to provide a cost-effective intelligent management solution for keys and equipment. These solutions are modular and therefore scalable to differing suit requirements.


From introducing such a management system for keys and devices, access can be controlled and only granted to authorised personnel. Keys inside the system are locked in place by Traka’s secure iFobs, which means a hierarchy of access rights can be given to each key to better manage contractors and temporary staff. Within the cabinet, only certain keys will be available depending on the pre-determined access rights.


This system considerably reduces additional administration efforts from health and safety staff, and allows people to access keys as required. There is also a curfew on keys to certain areas, meaning that relevant staff can be alerted if a key was meant to be returned at a certain time, providing greater levels of accountability and health and safety.


CASE STUDY: BRIGHTON AND SUSSEX


UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS TRUST Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust is one example of how healthcare facilities are making key management an embedded aspect of its health, safety and security procedures, and working towards a more efficient future.


Traka worked with staff to improve the safety and accountability of the drug issuing process at


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Hospitals have to consistently balance best practice with health and safety protocols and patient comfort. Ben Farrar, Traka’s Market Development Manager for Healthcare, investigates what it takes to upgrade security cost-effectively, without losing the essential welcoming feel to a hospital premises.


Brighton and Sussex NHS Trust, by installing its key management solutions.


Previously, keys to drug lockers were issued manually, with one member of staff acting as a steward. However, this led to human error, difficulties in locating the keys and additional administration duties for busy ward staff.


Despite the thorough manual processes in place and most staff remaining vigilant, stock discrepancies did occur, sometimes through genuine human error and in other cases, theft. This had serious security and cost implications for the Trust.


Since working with Traka, keys to drug lockers are now stored within an intelligent key cabinet. To maximise security, the key cabinet has been programmed so that multiple members of staff need to swipe their credentials to issue and return a key to the system. This creates greater accountability and encourages an easy- to-achieve best practice amongst ward staff.


Chris Robinson, Security Systems Manager for Brighton and Sussex NHS Trust, said: “The Traka system has made a massive difference to the drugs dispensing process on the wards. From a health and safety perspective, we can have greater confidence that drugs do not get into the wrong hands, or that untrained workers cannot get hold of drugs they are not authorised to administer. From the ward staff’s point of view, it has taken away timely administration tasks, and the frustrations of trying to locate keys when a patient needs medication.


Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust also installed a Traka system to manage access in and around the estates. Two large key cabinets situated outside the security office allow authorised personnel with access to sensitive areas of the hospital to easily retrieve the keys they are permitted to use. Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust is just one example of how Traka is supporting healthcare sites to embrace security technology cost effectively. It demonstrates how even small changes can make a significant difference, not only for the NHS team, but also in the efficiency of service, health and safety and ultimately patient care.


https://hello.traka.com/Healthcare-WhitePaper.html?utm_source=tomorrows_hs&utm_medium=press_release&utm_campaign=healthcare&utm_content=white_paper www.traka.com/global/en www.tomorrowshs.com


To learn more, Traka has created a white paper, which poses the question: “How can we embrace technology to help build increased efficiency practices in the UK healthcare system?” It is now available to download, here.


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