For a surveillance upgrade across their sites in Hampshire, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust has had HD video installed. The Southampton-based Trust says that their new system will improve safeguarding at a number of sites for patients requiring specialised mental health care in a secure setting.
Because of the sensitive nature of the care being provided, the vulnerability of patients and the risks to staff, it was essential that the video solution was not only network-secure but could be relied on to capture scenes in detail in all lighting. Southern Health wanted a fully managed system, linking all their sites onto their local area network (LAN) without the risk of hacking; a consideration for the NHS in selecting any IP CCTV.
After a proof-of-concept comparison, IDIS equipment was set up on site to show picture quality and ease of use. It replaces a previously installed IP video system, comprising a mix of equipment from manufacturers.
The fire and security integrator ISD Tech has just fitted the first phase at Ravenswood House, Fareham. This phase comprises almost 100 12MP vandal-resistant infra-red fisheye cameras plus full HD IR domes, DirectIP H.265 4K recorders, PoE switches and full-HD monitors.
The older system at Ravenswood House had been proving difficult to use. Recordings could not be easily archived, and image quality was inconsistent, says Tracey Edwards, Security Manager at the Trust. She says: “We had identified gaps in coverage and our efforts to provide a safe environment were being hampered by footage that was often unclear. The old system was proving too complex to use and it was taking too long for operators to identify and retrieve recordings.”
This mattered because staff at the site are caring for vulnerable people and, in an incident, it’s vital that they can quickly access recordings that show what happened. Delays can mean interrupted care delivery and costly disruption, so need to be minimised.
The 12MP fisheye cameras allow all events to be captured automatically without the need for operators to focus in on an incident. Recordings from the new cameras always provide a 360 degree view of any given area without blind spots. Footage can be accessed quickly. The fisheye units offer a choice of six de-warping view modes and offer night-time IR viewing at up to 15 metres.
The new system has also overcome a loophole at Ravenswood: in some areas motion-sensor activated lighting was not sensitive to very slow movement, meaning the previous system could not capture images because it had no infra-red. This increased the vulnerability of patients and staff.
Overcoming this, the built-in IR in the fisheyes enables the capture of clear images even in darkness, the makers report. The new set-up also features IDIS’s Smart Failover which protects against loss of footage due to potential fault conditions including network instability, network or storage failure, recorder hardware failure and power supply failure.
IDIS and ISD Tech worked particularly on ensuring the phase one installation went smoothly, says Nicky Stokes, ISD Tech’s Managing Director. “Our engineers had to be very sensitive and careful working on this project because of the nature of the site and the needs of the patients. Everything went smoothly – IDIS equipment really is ‘plug and play’, which makes our job much faster, and we appreciate the high-level support that IDIS always gives.”
Roll-out of the IDIS products through Southern Health sites will continue through 2019.
Jamie Barnfield, Sales Director, IDIS Europe says: “We are delighted that IDIS technology has been chosen for this important NHS project. We know that our technology will provide outstanding service for years to come. Not only is it backed by our IDIS Ultimate seven-year warranty, our commitment to leading the way in new product development means that it will be forward-flexible and meet all the customer’s future needs.”
