SecurityWorldMarket

29/11/2017

University hospital goes for complete digital upgrade

Norwich, Norfolk

One of the largest hospitals in the UK upgrades to IP technology

When the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital’s CCTV system was scheduled for an upgrade, the hospital direction decided to go all the way, with a complete control room refit, a migration from analogue to digital technology, and with Flir’s most recent and feature-rich video management system (VMS).

Built on the outskirts of Norwich, it was the first new NHS teaching hospital built in England for more than 30 years. It is one of the largest hospitals in the United Kingdom in terms of in-patient capacity and is a teaching centre for nurses (adult and children), midwives, doctors, therapists and operating department practitioners, whilst hosting the Norwich GP speciality training scheme.

An efficient and convenient CCTV system is a key element in any effort to ensure the safety of hospital patients, visitors and staff. There was one major challenge: the control room is the main hub of hospital communications and therefore essential for 24/7 response to emergencies. As a result, NNUH required a seamless technology transition.

Based on the evaluation results of an Enterprise Audit Report, Check Your Security, specialists in IP security, proposed to equip Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital with a new control room with the latest fully integrated and ergonomic command center furniture. This shared working environment was tailored to NNUH’s needs and now incorporates an effective incident planning area, making use of the latest Latitude VMS version from Flir for real-time situational awareness. The control room now also features a video wall integrating the video feeds of key cameras, together with a connection to the barriers, access control and emergency intercoms.

Flir’s Latitude VMS provides seamless, forensic quality imaging and user-friendly operation consisting of dedicated, web-based and mobile client software, and  offers effortless viewing, playback, search and export, while maintaining scalability and usability.

As part of the transition to a digital platform, the analogue recording equipment has been decommissioned and the existing cameras have been migrated onto Flir recording servers and analogue video encoders to integrate its existing 76 external PTZ cameras, internal static cameras, intercom help points and barriers.

The upgraded control room with Flir’s VMS has resulted in an extremely user-friendly and ergonomic shared workspace and lowered operational costs, enabling better patient control and higher quality service. The total solution not only consumes less space, but has also resulted in lower power consumption.

But the most important benefit for NNUH’s control room operators probably is that the internal investigation time has been reduced by 25%. Flir’s Latitude VMS has certainly contributed to this, with its sleek and modern client web interface, optimised use of touch screens, thumbnail search for quick and accurate identification of desired clips and its presentation of relevant data and actionable information, allowing control room operators to focus on what is really important.


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