Parents given 24/7 access to babies at Hull neonatal unit through new fingerprint system
Parents of some of Hull’s youngest hospital patients will now be able to visit their babies at any time of the day or night, thanks to a new biometric security system.
Hull Women and Children’s Hospital has introduced a £12,000 fingerprint access system at its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, known as NICU.
The system has been paid for by the Baby Unit Fund and means approved parents and guardians can access the unit 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The hospital says it is the first neonatal unit in Yorkshire and Humber to introduce the new security access system.
Parents and guardians with parental responsibility for babies being cared for on the 26-cot unit will be able to register their fingerprints when their baby is admitted.
The NICU is a regional tertiary unit, caring for some of the sickest babies in the country.
The new system means approved parents will no longer have to wait for staff to let them in through the existing buzzer system when visiting their baby.
NICU Matron Francesca Matthews worked with Emily Hunter, Neonatal Governance Lead, to introduce the scheme.
Francesca said: “We’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has donated to the fund over the years because it’s only through their generosity that this has been possible.
“This new access system means we can now offer a first-class service in family integrated care, using the latest and safest technology.
“It has taken more than two years to have the system installed because all governance and security protection linked to people’s biometrics had to be in place first, to protect all of the babies who come to us for treatment.
“We now have a secure system where approved parents who wish 24/7 access to the unit can use their fingerprint on special pads outside the entrance to get onto the unit without waiting for staff to ‘buzz’ them in.”
Parents and guardians will be asked if they want round-the-clock access when their baby is admitted to NICU. They must give consent before registering their biometric fingerprint.
Their fingerprint will then be scanned onto a secure system linked to pads outside the entrance to the unit.
Only those with parental responsibility will be eligible to use the biometric system. Other family members will still need to use the buzzer to gain access to the unit.
Once a baby is no longer receiving care on NICU, the fingerprints of their parents or guardians will be deactivated and removed from the system.