TMB Systems Group - Experts & Thought Leaders

Rough sleeping is the most visible form of homelessness and the number of people sleeping rough across the UK, particularly in its larger cities, has increased in recent years. While it is far from being the only form of homelessness, a new initiative from The Salvation Army –who have partnered with a specialist Lancashire-based company ‘Protectal’ - is seeing the pioneering use of so called ‘NAPpads’ being used to offer pop up accommodation to rough sleepers. The causes of homelessness and rough sleeping are many and varied but the increasing cost of rents, the affordability of housing alongside a shortage of affordable homes plus a range of social and health factors have led to a year on year increase Metal security door The Salvation Army already offer accommodation to people who are homeless through their lifehouses (supported accommodation) and churches. Here people can find basic accommodation, meals and keep warm and safe for the night - but they wanted to do more. This new trial is now running in York and is being supported by City of York Council, who have temporarily provided land for the scheme and support for those using the NAPpads. Each NAPpad is self-contained with toilet and wash facilities, a metal security door secured by SALTO Each NAPpad is self-contained with toilet and wash facilities, a metal security door secured by SALTO, window, power point, heater and LED light. They are also fitted with non-invasive 'vital life signs' sensors that can detect if the occupant stops breathing, enabling emergency services to be alerted and giving an ambulance crew the chance to save a life. Access control platform Colin Dilloway, Director of Access Control & CCTV at SALTO Partner TMB Systems, says, “We already do a lot of work with The Salvation Army so we were very pleased to be invited to be part of this initiative. The customer needed a portable solution that was self-contained so we established that a cloud-based system was the best solution. SALTO had just such a product in the form of their SALTO KS Keys as a Service cloud access control platform.” “The NAPpad is fitted with a weatherproof KS connected SALTO wall reader with integral pin keypad, working alongside an Eagle Eye Networks integration with a CCTV camera. A pin number given to the rough sleeper by a Salvation Army support worker is entered into the keypad which then releases a maglock on the door via an online connection giving them access to the pad,” Dilloway concludes. Flexible management system SALTO KS delivers reliability and recognised stability to cloud access control SALTO KS delivers reliability and recognised stability to cloud access control. It provides a flexible management system that requires no software installation nor cost of a fully wired electronic product - is an online device with an Internet connection all that is needed. Steven Brackfield, Procurement Manager for The Salvation Army, comments, “This first trial of the NAPpad concept means we can keep people safe as well as warm and dry by providing dignified sanctuary away from the insecurity and uncertainty of a night on the streets." "Tackling homelessness will take a lot of work, but with this first step assisted by the use of technology from SALTO and TMB Systems, we can not only offer a warm bed, a locked door and safety but also a chance to meet our support team to explore more permanent housing and support options for the individual."

Over 62 high profile doors at the centre are fitted with offline networked SALTO XS4 handle sets Customer As the number of people attending Accident and Emergency Departments and Acute Medical Units (AMU) continues to grow and put pressure on the NHS, a brand new medical centre in South West London is welcome news. Nelson Health Centre in Merton, South West London, is being developed on the site of the former Nelson Hospital on Kingston Road. NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has been leading on the planning of the clinical services at the facility and is currently working with the appointed service providers to equip and prepare the building for when it opens its doors to patients on 1 April. Funded through a NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT), a Private Public Partnership which has been developed with South London Health Partnerships Ltd (SLHP), the brand-new facility will mean a vastly improved patient experience for the local population, with clinical functionality and innovative technology at the very heart of the new centre. The innovative healthcare centre, which will be a BREEAM (Health) excellent rated building, will provide a spacious and modern environment allowing more people to be seen diagnosed and treated as quickly as possible. Its full height glass entrance atrium will give users a good internal perspective of the centre before they even enter the building. Once inside, colour coded departments and self-check in screens will help avoid queuing and the GP waiting areas have additional check-in screens and call screens to let patients know when they are ready to be seen and where they need to go. Two local GP practices, The Cannon Hill Lane Medical Practice and The Church Lane Practice, are relocating to the new centre with the intention of forming a new single organisation bringing the best from both practices to deliver excellent care to their patients. Departments at the new medical centre The centre will provide outpatient treatment in areas such as General medicine, General surgery, Gynaecology, Respiratory medicine, Rheumatology, Dermatology, Trauma and Orthopaedics, Diabetes, Cardiology, Urology, Colorectal surgery, Gastroenterology and Ophthalmology (provided by Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust ) as well as a host of other diagnostic and community services. "The controllers utilise SALTO Virtual Network (SVN) software to enable the doors and their operating Mifare smart cards to be updated throughout the site and..." A fantastic, modern state of the art resource for the residents of Merton, there has been real attention given here as to how the NHS estate can help to improve efficiency, move more care out of hospitals and exploit new technologies. This includes making provision for the security and safety of all staff that will work in the new centre through the specification and installation of a SALTO smart electronic access control solution. Key issues The challenges involved in securing a medical facility are unlike those in almost any other building. Most need to have relatively easy access because they want to provide a welcoming environment for patients. While this dictates that it is often necessary to allow for high levels of public access to the facility and its health service amenities, including the routes linking different departments, entry to many back of house areas and other facilities needs to be restricted for the protection of staff, patients and property. Personal safety and crime prevention are obviously key issues for any medical centre, especially given that medical products and pharmaceuticals are usually stored on the premises. But managers in the health service are also required to address the legal implications of effective security as well. Legislation such as the Health and Safety at Work Act, the Occupiers Liability Act and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations impose a wide-ranging duty of care upon them and data protection laws also call for the strengthened safeguarding of personal information, a factor with clear relevance to the health service and its patient medical records. Solution - SALTO XS4 The access control solution was supplied, installed and commissioned by local SALTO Partner TMB Systems Group. Managing Director, Tony Burton, says “Our brief was to design and install a secure, flexible and cost effective access control solution that was simple to use to meet both the NHS and end user’s needs. To achieve this we recommended SALTO Systems and their battery operated wire free XS4 platform. As the premier healthcare-tailored access control system used in hospitals all over the world, one of the biggest benefits of the SALTO XS4 solution is that it needs no hard wiring. Removing the need to cable saves time, hassle, disruption and, not least, significant sums of money, which is always important in an NHS project. Given the modern open plan design of the new centre it was also important that the security products fitted blended seamlessly with the design ethos and architecture of the building. This has been achieved with a mix of offline and online doors, and now 62 high profile doors at the centre are fitted with offline networked XS4 handle sets in an attractive stainless steel finish. These include medical supply, medical room and surgical room doors, and these are supplemented by 37 online networked controllers. The controllers utilise SALTO Virtual Network (SVN) software to enable the doors and their operating Mifare smart cards to be updated throughout the site and access profiles of staff to be changed rapidly as required adding real value to the access management of the centre. "A couple of features of the systems they particularly like are blacklisting and staff roll call, and the fact that if key security is breached due to the loss of a card,..." Another important consideration for the centre was the fact that they wanted to control everything on-site with just a single card system. This means staff does not have to carry multiple cards around with them and using a multi-function card can provide a wide range of user benefits. We’re now implementing this so that the access control and pay on foot parking systems are integrated and work together. In addition, we’re also in early discussions with the centre with regard to using the cards for vending and photocopy machine use as well.” Benefits SALTO SVN eliminates the physical restrictions of traditional standalone electronic doors and can seamlessly integrate with other third party systems if required whilst allowing the centre’s smart cards and locks to be updated, restricted or deleted remotely. The cards build up 'on-card' audit trails through normal use giving the centre complete control over all their access needs. Commenting on the project, David Hill, Area Manager, SALTO Systems says, “The vision for the Nelson Health Centre is to bring a wide range of health and care services closer to the local community and reduce trips to hospital. Their wish to implement modern technology to provide security for both the building and its staff is in line with our mission to provide excellent services to our healthcare customers. Their smart cards can be programmed to allow access to specific rooms or areas within the centre for selected periods only, with the doors auto locking at pre-specified times if required. A couple of features of the systems they particularly like are blacklisting and staff roll call, and the fact that if key security is breached due to the loss of a card, it can be instantly deleted without the need or cost of changing locks – saving Nelson Health Centre time and money.”