North East Essex tags infants

The Fryatt Hospital in Harwich, Essex, has installed a new infant protection system to prevent children from being abducted.

Infants at the trust can now wear a Hugs tag attached to their ankle by a soft tamper-proof strap. A computer console displays images of floor plans of the area which show tag locations with monitored areas and doors indicated.

If the strap is cut or tampered with, the child is moved to an authorised zone or the signal is no longer detected, an alarm immediately sounds to alert the healthcare professionals.

The system supplied by Xmark can also be used to activate other devices such as cameras, door locks, pagers, sirens, elevators and other alarms.

Helen Kershaw, interim maternity commissioning manager at NHS North East Essex said: “In the event of an attempted abduction, the Hugs system immediately informs security and nursing staff precisely where the alarm has occurred. This information is vital in ensuring a quick response during an abduction attempt.”

Each tag sends a status signal to the main console to confirm that it is working, if a signal is not received within a certain period of time an alarm will be generated. The system also performs self checks every ten seconds so that tags do not have to be tested by staff.

The system also provides printed reports of all the activity of the Hugs tags so that if a child is abducted or is attempted to be abducted data is provided about the abduction effort.

Kershaw added: “Infant protection systems provide an effective deterrent against the abduction of infants. The Hugs system has been configured to operate in a number of ways that readily support our existing security systems.”

Link: Xmark