Background

VCare 24 serves a critical role within the United Kingdom as both a secure transport provider and a residential services provider. The company specialises in offering transport services to hospitals, police services, and local authorities, particularly for individuals sectioned under the Mental Health Act. On the residential side, VCare 24 takes on the responsibility of caring for SEMNH (Social, Emotional, Mental Health Needs) and at-risk children, acting as corporate parents during their time in the care system.

Jake Langford, the IT Manager at VCare 24, oversees the technology infrastructure that supports the company's continuous operations. The departments operate around the clock, with transport vehicles constantly on the move across the country and residential care facilities always active – ensuring children are looked after at all times.

The Challenge

“We needed a robust system for CCTV recording in our transport vehicles. The previous solution was an off-the-shelf bike camera system with SD cards. Nine times out of ten, the footage was either corrupted or low-quality.”

The process of archiving and reviewing this footage, and sharing it among managers across different shifts and locations in the United Kingdom, posed a significant challenge. Approximately 36 incidents a year necessitate footage retrieval, and the organisation has about 80 to 90 incidents involving restraints every month, whether it be restrictive (physically restraining someone to prevent harm) or positive (guiding someone's arm to assist them into a van).

Why Verkada

Verkada reduced the time it takes to access and manage footage from 9 hours to 10 minutes. The ability to deploy cameras without extensive training or setup, coupled with a near-perfect success rate in pulling usable footage, represented a significant improvement over the previous system. Live monitoring and proactive response capabilities are crucial for protecting the safety of both the transport personnel and the individuals in their care.

“We use Verkada in our transport vehicles. We can now livestream the footage straight back to our office. If a transport manager is archiving and reviewing footage, it’s just one check box to share with whoever needs to see it. The system’s GDPR and SOC 2 compliance, along with multi-factor authentication support, helps meet strict regulatory requirements.”

Livestream camera feeds from transport vehicles

The team has real-time visibility into the activities in each transport vehicle, enabling them to respond quickly to ongoing situations. "With real-time monitoring, we can catch an issue before it escalates or we’re even notified.  If we notice the patient has something in their hand, for instance, we can take proactive action from afar.” 

24/7 Continuous Monitoring 

Call center workers and transport planners utilise dual-monitor setups to keep a vigilant eye on the live feeds. During quieter evening or night shifts, the live feeds can be displayed on larger screens for continuous monitoring. 

Informed Transport Planning

Transport planners, responsible for scheduling and deploying vehicles for service requests from hospitals or police, facilitate effective coordination of transport logistics. With live views of vehicle interiors, planners can make informed decisions regarding staffing and vehicle allocation based on the patient's condition or behavior, helping ensure every transport is conducted safely and efficiently. “Verkada provides us with ‘eyes on the ground’ to make better decisions day to day.”

Improved Efficiency and Operations

Teams have been quick to adopt Command, a software platform designed to be intuitive and easy to use. "When we got to try Verkada and saw how much it improved our workflows, we got really excited for it," Jake notes, “Verkada has been the perfect application from an IT perspective. Our team can focus on other priorities, while security and access management run smoothly in the background.”

Integrating with Azure AD, SSO, and MFA

IT processes for onboarding – such as user provisioning – are streamlined with Azure Active Directory (AD). "It’s really easy to onboard and offboard users with the Azure AD integration. We just add them to a group, and that's it.” New users can access Verkada Command with their work email through Single Sign-On (SSO), supported by multi-factor authentication (MFA) and role-based access permissions. 

Digitising Visitor Management

A Verkada Guest trial is deployed in the main office and school, where about 30 people require check-in with ID badges every day. From interviewees to training session attendees, Guest automates the management of different types of visitors while maintaining a digital log of entries and exits.

“In our office, we have shared rooms that we lease out. With Guest, we can manage shared space usage without the constant need for administrative staff to physically manage access. Instead of running up and down stairs 50 times a day, they can monitor Guest in Command from their workstation upstairs and only come down when there's an actual need.”

Liability Protection & Peace of Mind

Rapid review and response are crucial in sensitive sectors where allegations can quickly escalate into major legal and reputational issues. Verkada's technology not only streamlines the process of compliance and evidence management but also significantly reduces the stress and workload on staff by providing a reliable and efficient tool for safeguarding against false claims and ensuring the safety and security of those involved.

Protecting From False Claims

The ability to swiftly pull and review footage has proven invaluable in protecting against allegations and maintaining a high standard of care and safety. One of the critical advantages of Verkada is the ease with which they can manage digital video evidence. This capability is not only crucial for defending against false claims but also for upholding the integrity of the care provided, especially when physical restraints are legally and safely applied in accordance with training and legislation. "Unlucky staff who have had allegations or been involved in interventions are supported by footage that objectively shows the truth.” 

Resolving Investigations in a Fraction of the Time

The ease of archiving and searching footage has also drastically improved the speed of investigations. Staff can identify and pull relevant bookings and incident reports within minutes. "It takes less than 10 minutes to retrieve the footage, narrow it down to the exact incident, archive it, and share it with a third party as needed.”

Privacy Features for GDPR

With privacy features like face blurring and on-demand audio recording, VCare 24 maintains a secure environment that respects and protects patient privacy, while meeting high standards of regulatory compliance. “There are many cameras out there, but there were very few companies who could sort of back that up with ISO and SOC accreditations like Verkada.” 

Face Blur

The blur feature is especially valuable in a healthcare context, where patient identities need to be protected. "We can apply face blur when sharing our footage to help protect individuals’ privacy during investigations.” This feature allows VCare 24 to share necessary footage with third parties while ensuring that patient identities are obscured, providing a balance between security and privacy.

Audio Recording On-Demand

Given the sensitive nature of healthcare environments, VCare 24 typically keeps audio recording disabled to protect the privacy of staff and patients. However, in situations where a patient makes verbal allegations or abuses, managers can swiftly enable audio recording to capture the whole context of the incident. "If a patient is making verbal allegations, we have the ability to ‘enable audio recording’ on-demand. Then, just as easily, we can disable it when the incident has passed.”

Protecting Guest Identities

Prior to Verkada Guest, the organisation used GDPR-compliant logbooks with blackout regions so visitors can only see their own information. However, the paper logbook was still far from an ideal check-in solution. “Instead of a pen-and-paper, it helps to have the sign-in process digitised. Visitors only see their own information on a digital visitor log, and we can easily add checkpoints into restricted areas.”

Looking Ahead: Embracing Future Technologies

Jake is looking into the benefits of having Intercom, Access Control, and Alarms at the main office and school, unifying physical security operations across all sites and vehicles. There is also potential to use the Cellular Gateway for vehicle tracking, an opportunity to further enhance live monitoring capabilities.

“Verkada just makes sense. We can manage all our sites, users, and vehicles in the U.K. on one platform. We didn’t realize how much time it would save us by simply changing a camera system, but it has improved our workflows and gotten our teams very excited.”

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