Protecting Hospital Staff

The health sector has to deal with an ever-increasing plethora of security issues and needs to consider the options available to help them.

The security requirements of hospitals are complex, with staff facing a range of risks and threats on a daily basis as they work to protect patients, their colleagues and visitors.

The Department of Health released statistics in December 2005 indicating that 84 per cent of NHS staff have a direct, hands-on role with patients.

Coupled with figures released in 2006 showing one in 22 (60,385) NHS employees were assaulted by patients and their relatives whilst at work, it is important that the health sector considers an effective method to protect its staff.

The presence of security guards is helping to deter crime and could be further reduced if coupled with the use of visitor management solutions.

Every hospital has a duty of care not only to its employees, but to all those visiting the premises. Health & Safety regulations state that every person within a building must be made aware of emergency exits and procedures.

There are now visitor management solutions on the market which can help; providing details of building layouts and procedures which can be printed on the back of guest passes.

In addition, medical equipment theft is a serious problem, costing the NHS millions of pounds every year. Public access environments such as hospitals can be viewed by thieves as easy targets. Accident & Emergency departments can be particularly vulnerable as it can only take one incident for the attention of staff to be immediately focused elsewhere.

In February 2006 for example, York Hospital suffered a serious breach of security whereby thieves managed to take £300,000 of endoscopy equipment used for internal examinations in a raid. Visitor monitoring solutions can prevent unauthorised visitors from accessing the building any further than reception, or better still, can deter them from entering in the first place.

It is important that hospitals recognise that security is a process; one that should include bespoke systems to protect employees, patients and visitors. As crime changes, gone are the days when visitors to hospitals can come and go as they please.

Tensor can provide visitor management solutions to provide a safe, professional and cost-effective way to help hospital staff with their daily job of keeping their building secure.