University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) has become the first acute Trust in the UK to start using a safety app to keep their healthcare teams safe.

LEICESTER, LEICESTERSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, December 9, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) has become the first acute Trust in the UK to start using a safety app to keep their healthcare teams safe.

As the leading safety, security, wellbeing, and emergency management platform, SafeZone has gone live across the Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester General Hospital and Glenfield Hospital sites, including surrounding car parks. Colleagues can download the app, share their location, and alert security teams about any safety-related incidents, including violence or aggression, at the touch of a button.

The Trust also joins the SafeZone Alliance, working with the nearby University of Leicester to deploy the app across both of their sites. This initiative enables the Trust, the University of Leicester and other Alliance members to provide reciprocal support to each other’s staff, students and faculty – no matter which site they are attending – extending “safe zones” beyond the boundaries of their respective sites.

Kim Hudson, Head of Security at Leicester’s Hospitals, says, “The safety and wellbeing of our people is a top priority for UHL, and we are always working to improve their experiences. Offering SafeZone across the Trust is a significant step in ensuring that our colleagues feel supported and empowered, so they can focus on delivering the best possible care to patients.

“The fact that our colleagues have immediate access to support at the push of a button is so reassuring. It means that whether they are managing a difficult situation such as an aggressive patient, have seen something that looks unusual and would like to report it, or want the peace-of-mind walking to our car parks or working alone, they can alert our security team straight away and get help quickly and easily, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

The forward-thinking move to launch SafeZone underscores UHL’s dedication to fostering safer, more secure healthcare environments by leveraging technology that holistically addresses the current challenges faced by staff and patients alike. SafeZone, developed by CriticalArc, integrates seamlessly with UHL’s existing protocols, offering greater peace-of-mind to staff, facilitating rapid co-ordination and response to critical incidents, and bolstering the overall safety of healthcare professionals and patients on-site.

UHL’s commitment to safety goes beyond addressing violence and aggression and extends to offer additional support to high-risk groups within its community. SafeZone’s complete suite of capabilities – including the easy-to-use SafeZone app – are tailored to provide discreet and immediate access to support for those who may feel more vulnerable or at risk within a hospital environment or community setting. By implementing SafeZone, UHL reinforces its support for these groups, providing them an extra layer of security and ensuring that help is always at hand.

Michelle Squires, a discharge support assistant at UHL, shared her experience of using the new app. She said:

“Last week, we had a patient who required significant attention due to her aggressive behaviour. I decided to try the app for the first time to call for security assistance. Despite it being late in the evening, within just a few minutes, I received a response from the team and they were already on their way.

“What an impressive tool! I’ve encouraged my whole team to download the app as well. It really saves time and provides reassurance knowing help is on the way.”

As a major UK healthcare provider and pioneering teaching hospital, UHL’s adoption of SafeZone and membership of the SafeZone Alliance aligns with the University of Leicester’s longstanding usage of the platform to enhance safeguarding of student, staff and faculty. This collaboration highlights the holistic value of using SafeZone across multiple, complex sites to better protect communities, whilst ensuring a consistent approach to safety across two of Leicester’s key institutions.

Professor Thompson Robinson, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Head of the College of Life Sciences and Dean of Medicine at the University of Leicester, thoroughly supports the alliance collaboration, commenting: “The use of SafeZone across both the university and one of our major NHS partners, UHL, is excellent news, as it will provide reassurance of a single system to support and protect our large population of clinical staff and students.”

“The benefits of the collaboration between the University of Leicester and UHL cannot be understated. It provides tremendous peace-of-mind to students, particularly those training in healthcare, who know that help is always just a tap away when they’re moving across the campus and the hospital. This level of safeguarding goes a long way to supporting the next generation of healthcare professionals, so they can focus on their studies and flourish in a secure environment.”

CriticalArc’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Darren Chalmers-Stevens, comments: “UHL and the University of Leicester have become the first SafeZone user organisations to join forces and offer a unified safety and security solution for their respective communities. This progressive approach demonstrates just how committed these two institutions are to protecting the wellbeing of staff, students, patients and the wider Leicester community, laying a path for others to follow.”

Micah George
SafeZone by CriticalArc
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