On Wednesday 10th February 2021, Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will begin trialling a new digital checkpoint system for everyone who enters the main entrance at St Peter’s Hospital.
When you enter St Peter’s Hospital through the main entrance, there will now be a digital checkpoint where you must undertake the following steps:
- Step 1: Sanitise your hands using the alcohol hand gel available
- Step 2: Put on a new surgical mask, which will also be available at the checkpoint
- Step 3: Stand in front of a thermal camera which will check your temperature and detect whether you are wearing a mask.
The camera will then either display a green light which means you have a face mask on and your temperature is okay after which you can then enter the site, or a red light which means you have not got a face mask on or you have a temperature. If after applying the face mask the red light still flashes this will indicate you have a temperature. If this is the case, patients should speak to the member of staff manning the checkpoint or someone on reception. If you have a temperature or any other Covid-19 symptoms, you should return home immediately and both you and your household should begin to self-isolate. You should book a Covid-19 test as soon as possible.
Staff entering the site will have their own checkpoint to pass through with the same requirements as the patient checkpoint. The digital checkpoints will be clearly signposted for both staff and patients so they are aware of which queue they would need to join when entering the site.
In addition to the new digital checkpoint system, a next exit route will be in place and clearly signposted by the cash point in the main entrance to allow for a socially distanced flow of patients and staff arriving and leaving through the main entrance.
In the coming weeks, the system will also be introduced at the main entrance of Ashford Hospital, and if the trial proves successful, the new system will be rolled out to other entrances across the Trust.
