By Laura Heikkinen

The Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH) is building a new hospital in downtown Helsinki, Finland. The planning of the “Triangular Hospital” is currently at its most hectic stage – the actual building work will start in the spring of 2007. The six-storey, 20 000-square meter hospital is due 2010.

“In the planning of the Triangular Hospital a particular focus has been placed on the aspects of safety and comfort for both patients and staff. Clear access routes to the other hospital buildings on the site are considered to be vitally important in the planning,” says Seppo T. Ronkainen, Head of Security at the HUCH.

Currently, the HUCH serves about half a million people annually, making it the largest hospital in the country.

The Triangular Hospital will serve as a pilot site for signage and information systems. The aim is to find systems for identifying, locating and guiding patients that can then be used in other buildings. The possibility that the premises may need to be used for some other function at a later stage must also be taken into account.

Adaptability, adjustability and flexibility place new demands on the design of the door, lock and access control systems.

Weaving of old and new
According to Ronkainen, the new security environment will include different kinds of security solutions: heavy, light, and user based.

All the doors and premises of the Triangle Hospital will be equipped with access control devices, while the central units will be located in the telecommunication area. Access control will be incorporated as an integral part of the system currently used in the area.

”Right now, we have an access control system that is ward-based. We’ll use a proximity card, mostly because there are always lots of people moving around, and lots of doors, and we have to make sure that the right doors open,” he adds. “It’s a chip card, and we’re not using its full capacity yet.”

“We will implement some of the most advanced technology, but only in a limited fashion. Wherever there are big masses, we want to have technology that is tried and true,” he says.

Also, new systems have to be compatible with the existing ones in the same hospital area. Some of the hospital buildings date to 1950s. 

Different users, different needs
The users – nurses and doctors mainly – are involved right from the start in defining the security requirements. Moreover, important information is needed about the hospital’s entire logistics chain and on the processing of material flows. All the premises are studied in turn and will form the subject of a process description.

“The hospital is like a small city in itself, and as in any city, the ‘citizens’ have different and sometimes conflicting needs. If something goes wrong, the feedback will be immediate,” says Ronkainen.

“Doctors are a group that has special needs, because some of them are here all the time, but others only for a few months on a visit, because we are a university hospital,” he adds.

With the help of the pilot hospital we will try to achieve an identification system where the patients are guiding themselves, which is part of our vision. The initial identification and patient data are key. This is also where the data security issues come in. Patient mobility must be based on freedom within a flexible, invisible system,” says Ronkainen.

“We are searching for a new, modern way of thinking to improve our customer service. Moving around will be easy and safe for patients, staff and visitors alike,” Ronkainen concludes.

Visitor cards
The challenges are controlling the visitors’ access in a flexible way, and locating patients, says Ronkainen.

“We would like to eliminate unnecessary waiting in line and let people move around more freely,” he says.

“As far as visitors are concerned, we get thousands of visitors every day so we’re looking to get a cost-efficient solution for the visitor card. I’d like to get the price under ten cents (EUR). Even that amounts to a lot of money in the course of a year, says Ronkainen.

“My ideal hospital is one where people can rely on the care they’re getting, and feel safe without thinking about security,” Ronkainen concludes.