Ensuring patient and staff safety with IP video surveillance
University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht is one of the largest hospitals in the Netherlands. Recently, UMC upgraded its video surveillance system to Security Center. Its team now has the coverage it needs to respond to incidents faster and keep patients and staff safe.
The company
UMC Utrecht is one of the largest hospitals in the Netherlands. The campus encompasses three main buildings; the AZU General Hospital with a dedicated wing for the University’s Faculty of Medicine, the Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, and the Central Military Hospital. With over 500,000 square meters of floor space to cover, UMC has a dedicated security team monitoring and handling incidents around the clock to keep patients and staff safe.
The challenge
In an effort to expand video coverage, UMC Utrecht originally upgraded its dated video management system to newer IP technology, but soon experienced system instability. The medical center needed a reliable IP video surveillance system that would allow for easy expansion and would also openly integrate with BREINS, a central building management system which pulls data and alarms from all hospital and security systems.
The solution
Flexible system integration
The flexible and open architecture of Security Center has allowed UMC to integrate video with other key security system to centralize information and speed up response.
Efficient alarm response
“We can’t watch everything all the time, so we use motion detection from the cameras and analytics system to trigger alarms in the Omnicast system to see what’s happening,” said Van Wandelen.
Solid system performance
UMC Utrecht has implemented the built-in Failover Directory server as a hot standby and for additional load-balancing to ensure the system is working at peak performance.
Easy map navigation
“Navigating through the layout of our massive hospital to find different cameras has been invaluable to our team. It’s simple and easy for our operators to work this way,” said Van Wandelen.
“There is no other video management platform on the market that met our requirements. Omnicast has not only been extremely reliable, but also immensely adaptable to our needs as we grow.”
Gijsbert Van Wandelen, Senior Security Advisor, UMC Utrecht
Results
Today, the Security Center Omnicast™ system is managing over 200 cameras throughout the three hospital buildings. With engineering assistance from VisiOn ISP, the IP video surveillance system was fully integrated with a video analytics system to detect motion in a video frame or any objects left behind, and an intercom system. All of these systems are tied back to the BREINS, which centralizes information and procedures for faster response.
Since the hospital environment welcomes all kinds of people, including those with potential for violent outbursts, the Omnicast system has been instrumental in helping promote a feeling of safety for patients and staff at UMC Utrecht. “We actively watch our cameras, and the Omnicast system gives us the tools to react quickly. Our patients notice this efficient response and it makes them feel safe in our hospital,” said Mr. Van Wandelen.