Two leading manufacturers and suppliers of patient safety products specifically designed for mental health and challenging environments have joined forces to develop an integrated door alarm activation and annunciation system.
Following recent successful trials within a secure ward at an NHS Trust in the north-east of England, the Kingsway Group door-edge alarm is now fully compatible with the Specialist Alarm Services staff attack alarm system. “Kingsway Group has made successful modifications to our door alarm interface,” explained Rod Foot, Technical manager for Kingsway Group. “Our end-to-end cabling is now monitored, so if it was ever severed or accidently disconnected, a fault alert will be raised, ensuring that risk levels are reduced”
“From an SAS perspective,” added Dan Eastwood, Technical director at SAS. “it was very important to introduce a separate alarm call level for a ‘ligature alarm’, which has the highest priority alarm status. The result is that staff attending an incident are fully aware whether the alarm generated is an attack alarm or a potential ligature alarm.”
SAS has also introduced electronic testing procedures for the door alarm, whereby each reset device located next to the bedroom door will flash until it receives test alarm signals from the Kingsway Group door interface. The two business says: “This is an extremely positive step forward for both companies, and equally important for mental health Trusts, who will no longer have to install a separate annunciation system for door alarm activations.”