Today, many healthcare facilities are facing complex challenges in their day to day maintenance of buildings to secure public and work spaces as safe and healthy places for staff, patients and visitors. The additional COVID restrictions have added new hygiene-based constraints that need to be addressed during the pandemic and in the months and potentially years that will follow adding additional responsibilities to already busy schedules and challenging even the most frugal budgeting.
The typical issues associated with healthcare provision still need to be addressed, however with time and budget a diminishing commodity Facility Management are now looking at how their typical systems can become smarter, self-manage and maintain their own reliability without constant vigilance. We’ve compiled some valuable insights gathered from the various Healthcare Trusts already using Panasonic i-PRO products to share how our technology is driving down cost of ownership whilst adding on-value benefits that enhance operation.
Maintenance is an essential part of all Healthcare systems and security is no exception, with abuse and attacks on staff increasing many especially in Urgent Care see camera surveillance as both a deterrent, a “feel safe” and a valuable source of incident event and evidential review. However reliability is often overlooked in the initial procurement staging with cost savings harvested through building contraction paid later many times over across the seven to ten years of a systems life. Technologies like clear sight coating and electronic dehumidification need to be realised upfront as both realise substantial savings in routine maintenance as well as maintaining clear images and operational benefits during wet weather.
Establishing a five year manufacturers warranty as the end user system owner is essential especially as installation, default installation contract warranty and service and maintenance are often delivered separately. Panasonic i-PRO prides itself in the seven year maintained operational factoring it puts into product design, component choices and testing, realising not only a reduction in TCO but also negating the potential of disruption, especially on sites which deliver 24 hour operation. This together with Panasonic i-PRO products bond to develop the end user relationship ensures warranty and support continuity can pass seamlessly as you switch between direct Service Providers.
Video Management Software licence costs, often heavily discounted or waived at the initial installation phase also need to be understood and factored into your TCO calculations for maintaining the “as is” system plus additional likely additions as your system grows. This is of even greater significance in closed protocol systems as limited vendor support can make additional RFQ’s less competitive when compared to solutions designed as open protocol. Panasonic i-PRO have always provided securely encrypted firmware updates free at point of download and provides licence free connection to its in-house VMS platform Video Insight for all connected Panasonic i-PRO products such as cameras old and new alike for the duration of the life of the system.
Technological developments in AI have brought new features that can bring forth new benefits in quickly establishing incidents and events that are taking place, thereon enabling a quicker response to be actioned. Video analytics, AI and cameras with “deep learning” have been used to describe new cameras that can evoke this technology. Such cameras have additional processing and enhanced software multi-layered algorithms that enable automatic and reliable identification of objects vehicles, people, bicycles etc.. Subsequent actions or scenarios programmed around these analytics can now realise improvements in their detection with many vendors now providing in house or 3rd party plug-ins that can be used to improve operational efficiency. Examples range from a slip and fall, appropriate in the current additional cleaning environment to parking in unauthorised areas or entering an ambulance only slip road, to social distancing or group gathering inside to perimeter intrusion across an external fence line. Employing AI Analytics in the camera, or at the edge as it is referred to is a good way to add these new features onto your system. It is however necessary to check compatibility with your existing control room equipment as to its compatibility or additional licencing requirements. Panasonic i-PRO AI cameras can link object detection as a camera alarm which means they can be added and will alert into existing Panasonic i-PRO control rooms without additional licencing.
Our door at Panasonic is always open we understand that deploying any security system can be complex and we proud to have partnered with and gained valuable experience with many Healthcare professionals that we can now pass on. We feel it makes sound financial sense which serves as an underpin in all our system designs that a reliable, credible and cost-effective video surveillance solution is delivered, one that not only delivers a high level of safety and security, but can also enhance site management and deliver business-related benefits.
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