Aging is the benefit of development, but it also raises the importance of necessary precautions that need to be taken in the health care industry.
Most developed countries are struggling with the issue of aging population. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) people aged 60 and above currently make up over 11 percent of the global population and this will go up to 22 percent by 2050.
Aging is the benefit of development, but it also raises the importance of necessary precautions that need to be taken in the health care industry. Eryl Jones, Managing Director of
Assa Abloy Security Solutions believes that this requirement is set to go up in the days to come.
“There is an added dimension of risk within this sector as opportunists may be looking to steal personal possessions from residents who may store valuable belongings within their individual rooms,” Jones said. “In a recent survey carried out by the BSI, 60 percent of respondents felt the use of private security measures by the care home sector had increased over the last 12 months, with a further 60 percent anticipating that it would increase further over the course of the next year.”
Katharina Geutebrück, CEO of Geutebrück, also sees this as a major reason for increase in demand for security solutions and explained the possible measures to be taken.
“One typical case in retirement homes is the ‘loss of patients’, in particular patients suffering from dementia and Alzheimer's disease,” Geutebrück said. “Especially during the night shift with limited staff and no visitors — a video system can be incredibly helpful here. Movement in areas, e.g., near the exit doors, can be automatically detected, displayed in real time on monitors as a live stream and recorded. An alarm can be generated to pop up on a mobile device of staff on duty, so that patients who get lost may be assisted quickly.”
Sheila Stromberg, Director of Healthcare End-User Strategies at
HID Global, added that many health care networks are investing in this segment, taking measures such as using technology to ensure the patients’ presence.
“They are challenged to provide quality services on-site while keeping a watchful eye on potential fraud,” Stromberg said. “To provide proof of presence, electronic visitor verification (EVV) is a good security measure. An exciting new EVV approach is the use of tamper-proof NFC tags at the patient’s home that can be ‘tapped’ by a caregiver’s NFC-enabled mobile device, in a secure and trusted transaction that proves the caregiver was there at the proper time.”
The issue of aging population and the need to care for the elderly has also given rise to some new applications in RFID technology.
The issue of aging population and the need to care for the elderly has also given rise to certain new applications in RFID technology. Chad Parris, President of Security Risk Management Consultants elaborated on this.
“Patient wandering systems are common-place in such environments [care homes],” Parris said. “The use of RFID tags and wrist bands that energize a sensor near a door to lock it down to prevent the patient from exiting is being used.”
Without manufacturers adding specific security options, standard RFID technology may not yet be suitable for wider adoption for security requirements in health care vertical. But considering the increasing demands that the aging population is placing on the industry, there is definitely potential for more solutions.
To sum up, concerns of providing a secure environment for the elderly are definitely set to be a major driver of demand in the security market. Solution providers are increasingly aware of it. For systems integrators in the health care vertical, this could be an opportunity to provide integrated solutions that meet the requirements, and a key focus point to market themselves.