SALTO’s XS4 security solution installed at the Antrim Area Hospital in Northern Ireland

The solution features SALTO’s Data-on-Card technology and currently secures 80 doors supplemented by XS4 locker locks

SALTO Systems is proud to announce they are now securing Antrim Area Hospital; the largest hospital in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust, one of five health trusts in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Trust delivers a broad range of health and social care services across ten council areas. It provides services for a population of approximately 460,000 and also supplies services to Rathlin, the only inhabited island in Northern Ireland.

Belfast based SALTO Certificated Partner Ambar Systems has installed the state-of-the-art online wireless XS4 security solution in the hospital. This features SALTO’s unique Data-on-Card technology, and currently secures 80 doors throughout the new emergency department of the hospital, supplemented by 300 XS4 locker locks.

The powerful SALTO XS4 platform secures specific zones and doors within the department with complete security. The locker locks have been fitted to staff lockers, drug cupboards, mobile trolleys in resuscitation and major trauma areas, as well as to patient's bedside cabinets on the wards.

“At Antrim Area Hospital, XS4 delivers a highly flexible and integrated security solution by providing a specialised healthcare access solution tailored to the hospitals specific needs and helps improve staff and patient safety as well as the facility’s quality of care” said Gerald Etherson, Product Manager of Ambar Systems. “The XS4 platform is in use at hospitals all over the world, making it a tried and tested security management system for Antrim Area Hospital.”

Commenting on the installation, Paul Carr, National Accounts Manager, SALTO Systems states, “The challenges involved in securing a hospital are unlike those in many other buildings. Most hospitals have relatively easy access because they want to provide a welcoming environment and while this dictates that it is often necessary to allow for high levels of public access to the hospital and other health service amenities, including the routes linking different departments, entry to many back of house areas and most other facilities often need to be restricted for the protection of both patients and property.

Precisely how this is achieved depends on many factors including the level of security required in specific areas and the numbers of people likely to need access to those areas in the course of their work. The XS4 online wireless solution delivers real-time high level security with all the convenience of battery operated access control, and limits access to restricted areas and permits only authorised personnel to enter.

It is the perfect choice for applications that need a system with low power consumption, providing online control without any need to hard wire. Gateways are connected by Ethernet/WIFI to the controlling PC and repeaters then positioned in pre-defined wireless zones. The system is then set up and it is ready to go. The battery powered escutcheons configure themselves automatically through their SALTO software and then use their built-in low power (2.4Ghz) radio transceivers to communicate with the gateways to create a real-time wireless access control network.

Smart staff ID cards can be programmed to allow access to specific rooms or areas within the hospital for selected periods only, with the doors auto locking at pre-specified times as required. And if key security is breached due to the loss of an ID card, it can be instantly deleted from the system without the need or cost of rekeying or changing locks – saving the hospital time and money.”