5 Reasons Why Biometric Access Control Will Benefit Your Care Home

Access control systems are a vital security need for care homes, providing more unobtrusive protection for vulnerable residents and those with additional care needs, as well as the building’s valuable assets and equipment. The purpose of access control is to govern and restrict who has access to what zones within your facility; however, certain types of access control are more easily circumvented than others.

As the owner or manager of a care facility, you are responsible for every person that enters and exists on your property. When you have several people in your residency, it can be tough to keep track of their movements all the time, especially when you have a mix of managing contractors, deliveries, agency personnel and employees working different shift patterns all moving throughout the building.

If you haven’t recently updated or checked how you handle access in and around your care facility, it’s time to consider how you may implement a more effective system that will save you, and your team, time while also providing you with an exact record of who is on your site and when. Here are five reasons why you should upgrade your care home access control system and start using biometrics.

It Protects The Safety Of Residents

The safety of residents will naturally be at the top of your priority list. Many ways for monitoring access on a site exist, but those access control systems centred on biometric readers are among the most advanced and indisputable.

Biometric access keeps your residents and personnel safe by limiting the possibility of a key, pass or fob falling into the wrong hands or unauthorised people entering, or leaving, the care facility.

Fingerprint scanners and facial recognition systems allow access with data that cannot be reproduced, stolen, or utilised by unauthorised parties. These systems provide an unrivalled level of security and safety for individuals in care homes. The system will only allow authorised users access, guaranteeing that theft and other criminal behaviour do not jeopardise the business’s privacy and dignity, as well as the peace of mind of its residents. The Liberty Protection Safeguards can be upheld as access can be granted on a granular level for residents, allowing them access according to their needs and limiting ingress and egress where required for their safety.

It Helps You Maintain Strict Medication Restriction

You will hold a large quantity of medication on site at any time. Given this, you will need to restrict access to particular areas with confidential data and prescriptions to prevent unauthorised individuals from obtaining the medications.

Fortunately, a biometric access control system will make it simple to restrict who may enter the storage facilities and keep track of who moves through these areas. When you use a system like the Optima ID, you can configure and regulate entry level permissions for all employees and/ or agency staff. You can regulate which rooms they can enter using the Optima software programme, as well as the times of day they can enter those areas. This gives you complete control over sensitive information and medications with a simple and intuitive system that’s easy for you and your management team to use and update.

Your Security Will Be Up To Date

Installing an access control system saves both money and time. When working with many employees or agency staff, people are more likely to misplace keys, passes, or fobs. Installing a biometric access control system means you can easily add or remove people from the system as needed, ensuring that the database of authorised individuals is always up to date. You can create different groups and set time and area permissions to multiple individuals in that group.

It Reduces Absenteeism And Staff Paperwork

Every year, absenteeism costs businesses a lot of money. However, at Almas, our biometric time and attendance system can assist in highlighting trouble areas, absence patterns, and difficulties. It means that, as an employer, you are equipped with the knowledge necessary to manage situations before they escalate.

Biometric T&A eliminates the need to work around paper timesheets and inefficient clocking methods. This will help you save time and resources in the long run, especially with agency staff.

You Can Strengthen Your Security By Integrating All Your Systems

Many businesses desire to be able to view and manage all of their security systems from a single platform to save time and improve security. Installing a system like Optima 360 will allow you to manage your access control, CCTV, and intruder alarm from a single interface.

Combining solutions provides additional control while also making the care environment more compliant and secure. For example, you can fortify your security system by generating an alert if a door is stuck or left open for an extended period of time. The integrated system can then be used to review CCTV footage in the occurrences list to determine who wedged the door and whether any residents escaped.

Biometric access control systems are one of the greatest security options for care homes because they are less intrusive. Contact the team at Almas Industries and our Security Consultants will look at your existing security provision, help you identify any risks and vulnerabilities that you may not see, and advise you on how to secure your premises.