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Safer hospitals mean safer healthcare practitioners and patients

New measures need to be introduced to protect healthcare practitioners, staff and patients at hospitals

Attacks on patients or staff at hospitals across the country has prompted the South African Medical Association (SAMA) to conduct research into these incidents.

According to SAMA, more than 30 hospitals across South Africa have reported serious breaches in security this year.

Derek Ramsay, the healthcare security account executive at Servest, said that one criminal offence in a healthcare facility is one too many.

“While our crime levels in hospitals are moderately low, we cannot have a society where hospitals are not safe.”

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Ramsay added that the situation called for a closer analysis of crime in these facilities to better understand how it can be combated. He recognised the need for solutions to be designed which would support healthcare practitioners in going about their days without the fear of falling victim to crime, especially in high crime areas.

“The current crime statistics do not focus on a structured approach to understanding criminal activities in the healthcare space, as these are recorded as part of the national crime statistics.

“There are no real statistics specific to healthcare facilities and it is imperative that we look at healthcare as an individual sector. That way we can begin to break down what is going on in hospitals and kind of get a root cause,” he said.

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Ramsay added that there were valuable lessons to be learnt from other countries, particularly China.

“From a technology point of view, lessons can be learned from China and the whole far east area, as they have some of the best CCTV systems and artificial intelligence solutions that have facial and optic recognition capabilities.”

He noted that security in the healthcare sector is especially complex, partly because of the different types of facilities, the varying threat levels and the compliance requirements. It is also focused on protecting some of the most vulnerable people in our society, who are at a point in their lives where they cannot fend for themselves; and several factors must be taken into consideration when providing security services in healthcare facilities.

“The risk of a hospital is determined by its geolocation and the types of risks around that location, and there is no one size fits all model for healthcare security solutions – hence it is critical not only to understand the facility but the geolocation too.

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According to Ramsay,  the importance in planning security systems for healthcare systems is to ensure that the perimeter and access control areas are well secured and that there are a mix of proactive and reactive systems in place with strong CCTV. Preventative strategies should be in place to deter crime and stop crime before it happens.

“As the standard of security is directly related to the guard’s grade, it is important to use suitably qualified security personnel for the different industries; in particular the healthcare industry. Appropriately qualified grade security personnel should be deployed in hospitals, as the grades determine the kind of security offered,” he concluded.

 

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