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Security enhancement at two key London hospitals
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Security enhancement at two key London hospitals
Case Study ADI has helped to improve the security provision at two hospitals located on separate sites, several miles apart by providing Honeywell Security digital surveillance technology to installers CSI.
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The North West London Hospitals NHS Trust has invested in the latest technology for better protection of patients, staff and visitors at its Northwick Park and St Mark’s Hospital site in Harrow, as well as the separate Central Middlesex Hospital (CMH) situated some seven miles away in Park Royal. Both sites cater to the needs of Brent and Harrow’s population of 500,000+ patients.
The innovative CCTV system has been supplied by ADI International and designed and installed by Carlton Services International (CSI). Around 160 cameras are currently spread over both sites, monitoring movements in potentially vulnerable areas such as the Accident and Emergency Department, waiting rooms, corridors and car parks. This number is intended to expand by 20% over the next two years as a result of Northwick Park Hospital’s maternity unit refurbishment, as well as the building of the new Central Middlesex Hospital, scheduled for opening in 2006.
The Trust’s previous network of cameras is being updated in a phased programme, allowing the introduction of benefits such as Honeywell’s ‘NVT Inside’ transmission technology. These advantages include cheaper cabling compared with either coax or fibre, and at Northwick Park Hospital, NVT has reduced costs by allowing half the number of transmitters previously needed to convey camera signals at distances of up to 1km within the site – a clear advantage, given the site’s overall size [its boundary road is one mile long].
CSI’s Technical Services Manager, Matt Daly, explains that by specifying the digital recording of surveillance images at both sites, the Trust has benefited through operational advances that help security staff to be more efficient and effective in their work. These gains are also being passed on in the form of raised levels of safety and protection for staff, visitors and outside contractors.
Hard-disk recorders have superseded a previous conventional analogue tape recording system. Mr Daly notes that the opportunity to install them arose when the Central Middlesex Hospital site became linked to Northwick Park, following the Trust’s creation and the hospitals’ merger in 1999. The administrative burden of handling up to 200 tapes, as well as the expense of replacing them all four to five times a year – not to mention the cost implications of periodically replacing the tape recorders themselves every 12-18 months, due to wear and tear – were all initial advantages exploited from the changeover.
Eleven 16-channel 320Gb Honeywell Security HRHD hard-drive recorders provide up to 25 frames per second resolution in duplex mode. They are currently controlled using three PCs, which allow multiple user access and enable security staff at a remote location to operate the system in the event of a disaster or other major incident involving either of the hospital sites. However, the Trust aims to replace the present matrix and control equipment soon with a Honeywell-sourced system designed to manage the hard-disk recorders without needing to use the PCs.
Matt Daly explains that this move will assist integration of the access control and surveillance systems at both hospitals, with benefits such as automatic CCTV recordings of people seeking to gain unauthorised entry to buildings such as children’s wards and pharmacies. These images will provide valuable evidential material for potential later use in any police investigations and court proceedings.
Discussing the Trust’s investment decision, Deputy Security Manager Dale Treharne is enthusiastic about the positive effects derived from upgrading to digital technology: “This system is a world away from our previous installation and staff here knows that pictures from CCTV cameras situated all around the two hospitals are now being recorded 24 hours a day. Before the Honeywell system was introduced, you couldn’t be sure if these images were being captured because they were multiplexed, which meant we only gathered one picture per camera every two seconds. Now, we have a refresh rate of 1.5 pictures from each camera, per second, or even faster if any camera is set up to record screen movement”.
“The upsides have included greater reassurance for our 4600 staff, both in terms of their safety and as redress against any false accusations from members of the public. We can also provide improved deterrence now that it’s known locally that this state-of-the-art system will help capture potential criminals. We’re also better able to provide a duty of care to all those legitimately coming in to our two sites.”
“We’re very impressed by the system we now have, in terms of the quality of pictures and recording, as well as the relative simplicity of recording, search facilities, archiving abilities, and the ease of exporting images onto CD for the police to take away, for example. In fact, the first time we used the digital system to investigate a break-in at the CMH site, we had to search through footage recorded by eight or nine different cameras. That would have taken up to two days using S-VHS tapes, but I was able to do it in just 15 minutes.”
Explaining the technical aspects of the system, CSI’s Matt Daly points out that three of the Trust’s 11 recorders are installed locally at the Central Middlesex Hospital in Park Royal. Operators at the Northwick Park Hospital, some seven miles away, can remotely access these using a broadband IT wide-area-network. By deploying innovative compression technology, it’s been possible to combine low network bandwidth requirements with high frame rate images.
“This is achieved using a technique called ML-JPEG, designed for this type of digital recorder – as opposed to comparable Wavelet or MJPEG compression technologies used by rival Digital Video Recorders (DVRs). It means, for example, that the security team can obtain high quality recordings [i.e. better than S-VHS] of up to 2.5images a second per camera for a period of 21 days. The system also uses one-third of the size of hard disk whilst delivering the same image quality you’d expect from comparable equipment, which means a lot more recording time is available”.
“Of course, its low bandwidth needs also appealed to the IT Manager, whose co-operation was crucial to the development of the system, and this helped the Security Department to provide a convincing case for using the hospital’s IT network without causing disruption to the other information carried by it.”
Another operational benefit assisting security staff is a software feature that allows selectable combinations of 16 camera images to be displayed on a control room monitor wall. For example, ‘families’ of cameras such as those monitoring various car park areas can be viewed together, even though they are being recorded onto different DVRs.
CSI is looking to explore similar advantages as the Trust gradually replaces its older cameras and introduces modern surveillance techniques. The security teams on both sites are aided by CSI’s considerable experience with hospital requirements and the way it tailors its installation service. For instance, only a small number of engineers are allocated to each site, meaning that they become familiar with the system, aware of the local needs and foster good long-term relations with the hospital staff.
Mr Daly confirms that Honeywell Security equipment will continue to be specified for the Trust’s ongoing requirements, because of both its technical strengths and the level of service provided. “As an installer, we find we get the best backing from ADI, based on our dealings with the company. This support has included technical assistance, site visits, specification checks and overseeing of the installation itself – the sort of service level we don’t get from any of our other suppliers. We’ve also found the Honeywell systems supplied to be reliable”.
Meanwhile, the Trust has been given the green light to build a new hospital on the Northwick Park site. The £300 million, 600-bed acute facility, which is expected to open in 2011, will replace a 35 year old design that’s become increasingly expensive to operate and difficult to run. The news will involve a fresh challenge for the security team, and one that its partners CSI and ADI International can help the Trust to successfully meet.
For more information please contact Kirsch Bowker Marketing Manager UK on 01928754000 or e mail kirsch.bowker@adi-intl.com
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