ICT: Smarter Access Control in Healthcare

Healthcare organizations work in complex environments that demand high standards of security and efficiency. Hospitals and clinics must protect patients, staff, and sensitive assets while ensuring that legitimate access is seamless, supporting critical care at all hours. As the range of threats and operational challenges grows, robust access control has become essential to both safe and efficient healthcare delivery.

By: Thomas Napora, Vice President and General Manager, EMEA, ICT

Healthcare facilities must accommodate a mix of open public spaces and highly controlled zones. Lobbies and cafeterias require welcoming accessibility, while operating theaters, Intensive Care Units (ICUs), and pharmacies need stricter access, including dual custody (two authorized persons present) for extra-sensitive areas. Staff such as consultants and nurses often work across several sites, so a unified, centrally managed credential system is critical to ease operations, managing multi-site access with one single credential.

Visitor and contractor management adds complexity. Hospitals host diverse visitors, family, delivery staff, and contractors, each posing security considerations. Secure check-ins with identity verification, temporary credentials, and digital audit trails all help keep track of who enters restricted zones and when. Automated systems reduce the administrative burden and support compliance efforts by creating accurate, searchable access logs.

Emergency Response Capabilities

Fast and coordinated emergency response saves lives in healthcare settings. Features like blue light corridors ensure immediate paths are cleared for patient transfers during emergencies, opening doors and prioritizing lift access so medical teams can move quickly. Lockdown capabilities offer swift containment of security threats. Whether the concern is a missing patient or an aggressive intruder, a lockdown isolates specific zones or secures an entire facility, while still granting access to emergency responders. This flexibility means staff and other patients are better protected until the situation is resolved.

Seamless integration with communication systems is key. When a lockdown or emergency protocol engages, automatic alerts keep staff informed and operations coordinated, ensuring efficient care continues where possible while security focuses on the threat.

Compliance and Regulations

Local and national healthcare security standards dictate access control requirements for hospitals, including secure entry points, visitor management protocols, and mandatory security audits. Compliance with these regulations is essential to avoid legal liabilities and protect patients and staff from security risks.

Solving Healthcare’s Unique Demands

Features like blue light corridors ensure immediate paths are cleared for patient transfers during emergencies, opening doors and prioritizing lift access so medical teams can move quickly.

The ICT Enterprise Access Control platform, Protege GX, is designed to solve the unique problems of the healthcare sector. Its scalable, multi-site architecture allows hospitals to control access across many buildings with a single, centralized platform. This not only brings operational consistency but also reduces the risk of errors from duplicated databases or manual updates.

System features like door interlocking and anti-passback help ensure only the right individuals can enter sensitive spaces and that credentials can’t easily be misused. These are especially useful for temporary staff or frequent contractors. Dual custody can be easily set up to add a level of security for sensitive areas, such as the pharmacy or medication cupboards.

Protege GX’s emergency features, such as fast-trigger blue light corridors and instant partial or total lockdown, are integrated intuitively, allowing staff to respond quickly without technical barriers. Importantly, Protege GX integrates with legacy databases, time and attendance trackers, and other systems, enabling healthcare sites to innovate their security without overhauling existing infrastructure.

In addition, the ICT solution combines access control and intrusion detection, allowing areas to be automatically armed and disarmed according to the time schedule and rules set up for each. It enables both efficient security and operations across multiple buildings.

Landspitali Hospital: A Practical Example

The Landspitali healthcare facility, the largest one in Reykjavik, Iceland, illustrates the impact of smart access control. Like many hospitals, Landspitali initially struggled with access to restricted areas, keeping staff and patients safe, and maintaining efficient visitor management.

By implementing ICT Protege GX, Landspitali established secure and clearly defined zones, allocated access rights based on roles, and automated visitor processes with digital logs and check-in protocols. Emergency blue light corridors decreased patient transfer times, while versatile lockdown protocols let staff isolate areas during incidents. These improvements resulted in fewer delays, stronger compliance, and greater peace of mind for everyone on site.

Staff noted the system’s reliability and straightforward operation, demonstrating that powerful security doesn’t need to be complicated. By leveraging automation and flexible controls, Landspitali significantly improved both safety and operational performance.

The path Landspitali followed offers a roadmap for other healthcare facilities seeking to strengthen security while improving day-to-day efficiency. With tailored solutions like Protege GX, access control becomes more than a necessary tool – it serves as a partner in delivering safer, more effective care and securing organizational success.