The CMHI building complex is constantly being expanded and modernised. Currently, it comprises 27 buildings with an area of 70,000 square metres. Every day, several thousand small patients are provided with medical care provided by about 2.5 thousand employees.
Administering such a large facility with a huge number of users – patients and staff, both medical and non-medical, necessary for the proper operation of the centre – requires limiting access to individual rooms for specific groups or even individuals. The adopted solution should enable secure, efficient management and control over who and when has access. In addition, it must be flexible enough to adapt to constantly changing conditions, such as staff rotation, outsourcing companies, and extension or modernization of the facility.
Originally, this problem was solved by using traditional keys and manual, paper registration of their issue, however, this functionality was not satisfactory. Another solution was the introduction of electronic access control systems (AC), initially in doctor’s rooms and rooms for medical staff at single doors using cards as identifiers. These systems worked independently of each other and came from different manufacturers.
The breakthrough turned out to be the time of the pandemic, when it was necessary to effectively limit the possibility of free movement around the CMHI premises for both patients and staff, depending on their functions. Restricting the free movement around the facility together with the use of contactless technology to identify users was an action to prevent the spread of the virus and to raise the hygiene standard in the facility.
It became necessary to significantly increase the number of controlled passages and zones with the possibility of centralized management, including the efficient granting of authorizations to rotating users.
The implementation of the new system is being carried out in stages: by systematically migrating older systems to RACS 5 (from RACS 4 and others) as the CMHI needs and is able to do so, and by installing the system in parallel at doors that were not previously covered by electronic access control. In most cases, it was possible to use existing cabling and some of the equipment already installed. Upgrade of the RACS 4 to RACS 5 requires only the installation of new MC16 series controllers and the replacement of the firmware in the installed devices and their parameterization to work in the new system. Furthermore, the ability to export the list of users from RACS 4 and import it into the RACS 5 system significantly facilitates and shortens the time of implementing a new system.
