Clinical Need
Innovative medicine management technology releases nursing time for patient care Aaron Ballard-Ridley, Healthcare Sales Manager at Abloy UK, explains how innovative, practical security systems are helping to relieve pressure and streamline the NHS.
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e’re incredibly proud of our National Health Service, but now more than ever the system is under immense pressure. NHS employees work incredibly long hours, and the operational systems in place that ensure patients receive the best possible care can only be streamlined so far.
Key security
Therefore, it stands to reason that technology is the next logical step to help increase capacity within the system, by increasing efficiency. For hospitals to invest in the latest technology, they must be shown clear benefits and a return on investment, because the NHS can’t afford to ‘gamble’ on a solution that might not succeed.
Historically, a senior nurse would be in control of a key set, and nurses would need to request the keys to open high security areas and controlled drugs cabinets. But on busy wards the keys are often misplaced, which undermines efficiency – particularly in urgent situations when nurses require instant access. Over a period of time this detrimentally affects patient care, nursing efficiency and morale.
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When it comes to medicine management, a system must have a high level of security at its core, and traditional mechanical keys are no longer a suitable solution for healthcare. For example, drug cabinets naturally need to be secure, but there is always the risk with mechanical keys that they can be lost, stolen or copied.
To combat these issues, security within healthcare settings has evolved from a simple set of mechanical keys to an access control system which utilises key hierarchy. This allows individual users to have access to several areas with just one key. Each individual has their own access rights tailored to their needs, and management can have a higher level of authorisation.
Access rights and audit trails Access rights can be revoked via the web management system with ease. Management can see audit trails that can be analysed to improve working practices further. For instance, you can measure when and where increased traffic occurs during a shift and will be able to plan for these peak times. Audit trails provide objective data with valuable
