Shaun Powell, general sales manager for healthcare/OEM industrial at Abloy UK, explains the solutions available to upgrade and enhance care home security and access control
For care home owners and facilities managers, maintaining a secure environment poses a number of challenges.
A high footfall of residents, visitors and staff makes it difficult to manage access control, plus there is the requirement to keep assets including medicines, confidential patient data, and expensive medical and IT equipment secure.
An effective solution needs to provide the right level of protection, while at the same time not intruding on residents or affecting their quality of life, these systems need to be adaptable to meet individual and evolving requirements.
There is also the security risk that lost or stolen keys pose, plus the owner of any public occupied building must be compliant when it comes to access control on fire and panic escape doors, to allow for safe and easy egress in the event of an emergency.
With this in mind, wireless locks are the ideal solution for the care home environment. Unlike wired locks, which are installed and cabled with significant cost and disruption, wire-free solutions are quick and easy to retrofit, integrating with existing access control systems.
They can be moved if building spaces are reconfigured or doors are repositioned too, offering flexibility and longevity.
As well as being cost-effective and simple to install with virtually no disruption, wireless solutions are a low energy solution, contributing to a business’s sustainability objectives.
For example, Aperio locks from Abloy are battery powered and operate without any connection to mains electricity.
Not only does this allow residents to move around in safety and conveniently, but it also helps to reduce daily energy consumption and carbon emissions. Plus, very little maintenance is required - batteries just need to be changed on average every two years.
With Aperio technology, doors can easily be upgraded and wirelessly integrate with the existing access control system using battery powered electronic locking devices with RFID card readers – optimising access control and boosting security.
Care home facility managers can monitor and manage premises at any time, day or night using a single security system, and easily respond to organisational changes, while users only require a single RFID access control credential.
Alternatively, CLIQ Local Manager is an electromechanical locking system ideal for the care home environment, offering users an ideal upgrade from a mechanical master key system.
CLIQ provides the facility to manage access rights for multiple users, doors, and time periods via desktop programming devices, it also enables greater flexibility and security by allowing lost or stolen keys to be blocked easily and provides audit trail information for rooms and cabinets.
Abloy can specify a solution no matter what the requirements, to take your security to the next level.
Whether that is a cost-effective retrofit upgrade, or a fully integrated system for a new-build facility, we have scalable options to suit your needs and are a trusted partner for many care homes across the UK – so get in touch to find out more.
For further information on products and services available from Abloy, call 01902 364 500, email info@abloy.co.uk or visit the website by following the link here: https://bit.ly/3umBVWd.
