Maxxess and ViS Security Solutions help safeguard patients and staff at leading hospital
Dublin’s Mater Misericordiae University Hospital is one of Ireland’s largest, busiest and most distinguished acute academic teaching hospitals. Serving a catchment of 185,000 local people, it is also the national centre for numerous specialist treatments. To improve safety and better manage the daily flow of patients,staff and visitors, systems integration experts ViS Security Solutions implemented a Maxxess eFusion solution to drive multiple benefits and cost-efficiencies, while providing scope for future expansion.
Challenge
For over 150 years the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital has been a centre of excellence in patient care and medical teaching. It treats over 66,000 people each year, has almost 600 beds and employs over 2,300 staff. As at all major hospitals, the Mater is under intense pressure to drive maximum value from its resources, and security is no exception.When the hospital built its prestigious new Whitty Wing, it installed a new access control system.However, it soon wanted to extend and improve provision across the wider hospital estate. This would require integrating the newly installed Whitty Wing system with existing access control solutions in the older McGivney and Misericordiae Wings. Due to its size and ever-evolving needs, the Mater required a flexible solution to enable migration and expansion of both its online wireless and hard-wired access control
Key Priorities:
Reduce costs via smarter application of advanced security technologies.
Seamlessly integrate video surveillance, intruder detection and access control.
Ensure robust encryption between access controllers,wireless hubs, wireless locks and cards.
Enable future deployment of thousands of locks on office doors, medical cabinets, plant room and riser access doors
Install IP area controllers to manage multiple locks via a single IP address.
Utilise existing cable architecture while reducing additional costly cable installation.
Build in scalability for future migration of older access control solutions.
The eFusion solution
After reviewing the incumbent solution and a range of market-leading systems,the Mater chose an integrated solution built on the open-protocol Maxxess eFusion modular platform. A decisive factor was its ability to integrate all access control, surveillance and intruder systems with the hospital’s command and control solution.
Due to its flexibility, Maxxess eFusion could be deployed in the existing client virtual environment to establish a unified command and control architecture.The solution included installation of Maxxess area controllers with Abloy Aperio wireless hubs, allowing for connectivity to Abloy Aperio wireless locks.This enables live streaming and forwarding of events from the locks via Maxxess access control software.
Key features include:
Seamless integration of video surveillance, intrusion detection and Maxxess / Aperio access control.
Significant savings on cable costs and installation by deploying Maxxess IP area controllers plus Aperio wireless hubs and locks.
Ease of deployment using highly scalable IP area controllers to manage multiple locks via a single IP address.
Benefits
Following successful implementation, the Mater is equipped with a user-friendly IP-based solution that will enable it to benefit from:
Enhanced security provision from controllers to wireless architecture, locks and cards.
Integration of Maxxess security management software with video surveillance and intruder detection to enable departmental management without the need to deploy PSIM consoles.
Scalability to enable other hospitals to use the wide area network.
IP-based functionality allowing systems to reside on the client network.
Remote release of access control doors via wireless Aperio architecture.
Streamlined key management to better safeguard mechanical risers and medical cabinets.
Deployment of remote portable readers to verify card holders.
Virtualised client architecture with no need to deploy additional servers.
Scope to enable future migration of older systems while using existing cable architecture.
The future
The Maxxess solution, which has met all of the Mater’s original priorities and surpassed expectations, is set to deliver significant benefits, both short and long-term. It will help to reduce costs, improve productivity, offer greater flexibility and support a more efficient, streamlined access control and security infrastructure. Consequently, the hospital will be better able to fulfil its public commitment to safeguard patients, staff and visitors 24/7 – and, as a direct result, to enhance the clinical environment and quality of care for the foreseeable future.