Based in the central area of North Staffordshire, a hospital within The NHS Trust serves over half a million patients across Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Stoke-On-Trent, and the Staffordshire Moorlands.
Operating from both The Royal Infirmary and the City General sites, the hospital offers a wide range of emergency, general, and specialist services.
The General Services Department at the hospital is tasked with key management and security across the diverse wards and departments.
Enhancing Key Control
The need for improved key management was a growing concern due to the vast number of keys in circulation, necessitating effective monitoring and security measures. Issues often arose from staff needing access to keys after hours and difficulty in tracing keyholders due to limited visibility.
Additionally, lost or stolen keys created significant challenges, requiring a solution that could be implemented within budget constraints and offer detailed key reporting capabilities.
Morse Watchman's Key Control solution
Key Control System tracks key activity, user identity, and access timesTo address these challenges, Morse Watchman introduced the KeyWatcher® Key Control System. This tailored solution provides a comprehensive record of key activity, including user identification and access timings. Each key user is required to enter an individual authorisation code, minimizing the risk of mismanagement or unauthorised access. The system effectively prevents the removal of keys by unauthorised personnel.
The KeyWatcher® system is complemented by KeyPro® Software, a user-friendly application providing real-time access to key locations and handling history. The software enables easy generation of activity reports, tracking key movement data through authorisation codes or biometric access data. Its sturdy metal construction replaces the need for outdated lock boxes and manual logs, streamlining key management practices.
Implementation across hospital sites
The Royal Infirmary and City General sites have integrated the KeyWatcher® Key Control System, complete with fingerprint access features. The Royal Infirmary received a new installation, while the City General site’s system was upgraded. Both implementations ensure that key movements are fully visible and trackable by authorised personnel, enhancing accountability and operational efficiency.
The 24/7 control facilitated by this system significantly reduces downtime typically spent waiting for keys. The General Services Department leverages KeyPro® Software to regularly generate usability reports and respond to security alerts effectively.
Impact of the new system
The adoption of the KeyWatcher® Key Control System has led to smarter and faster hospital operations. In instances where keys are overdue or misplaced, managers receive immediate notifications via the KeyPro® Software.
By strictly controlling key access, risks associated with lost or unauthorised key usage are minimized. Furthermore, the ability to generate a complete audit trail with ease conserves time and resources, streamlining key management tasks effectively.
Based in the heart of North Staffordshire, the hospital serves a population of over half a million patients around the areas of Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Stoke-On-Trent and the Staffordshire Moorlands. Part of The NHS Trust, the hospital currently serves over two sites; The Royal Infirmary and the City General.
Both sites provide an extensive portfolio of emergency, general and specialist hospital services. Within the hospital, the General Services Department have many responsibilities including the management and security of the various keys used within the hospital.
Technology objective
The hospital needed a solution that would provide greater key control across departments and wards along with key reporting facilities.
The challenge
Within both sites there are thousands of keys in operation that require monitoring and strong security. Across both sites the General Services Department had issues with staff waiting around for keys to be issued out of hours.
The exact whereabouts of keys was also difficult to manage and control as there was a lack of visibility about which member of staff had what key. Lost or stolen keys also proved problematic to the hospital as they were difficult to trace. Finally, the solution had to be delivered within a defined budget and was to provide strong reporting facilities for every key.
Morse Watchmans solution
When faced with the challenges of the hospital, Morse Watchman recommended and introduced the KeyWatcher® Key Control System. The KeyWatcher® is a custom-tailored solution designed to record the access history of each key, including user, date and time of checkout and return. In order to release an assigned key, each user needs an individual authorisation code. By having individual authorisation codes, the risk of a key being misplaced is greatly reduced. The risk of unauthorised people removing keys is completely eradicated.
The KeyWatcher® comes with its unique KeyPro® Software. This user-friendly PC application delivers real time information concerning the whereabouts and history of any key for the KeyWatcher® system. Activity reports are easily produced that can trace a keys’ movements by date and time, authorisation code or biometric access data. Constructed in rugged metal the slimline system eliminates the need for outdated lock boxes, messy key identification tabs and unreliable key recording manuals and manual logs.
In action
The KeyWatcher® Key Control System, complete with fingerprint access control options is now used across both sites of the hospital. A completely new system has been installed in the Royal Infirmary and an old KeyWatcher® system has been updated at the City General site. Both systems are now fully functional at each site.
Teams now have complete visibility into the whereabouts of any key and can track usage by authorised people at any given time. Staff are assigned various levels of access to the keys which helps to maintain effective key control and guard against carelessness or oversight.
Keys are now controlled 24 hours a day, 7 days a week which has meant time is no longer wasted with people waiting. The KeyPro® Software is used regularly by the General Services Department to produce reports concerning usability and any security alerts.
The results
The new KeyWatcher® Key Control System, has meant that the hospital teams have been able to work much smarter and faster as if a key is overdue or missing, the KeyPro® Software will notify the relevant manager immediately.
As the system only releases keys to authorised people, the risk of keys being lost or taken by an unauthorised person is reduced. Finally, as the KeyPro® Software produces detailed reports on the KeyWatcher® system, a full audit trail is avaliable at the touch of a button saving valuable time and resources.
