If it’s your job to ensure that a hospital or NHS trust has adequate access control, then you’ll understand how challenging it can be to properly control the movement of people on a tight budget. There are many different types of access control products available on the market that can help restrict public and staff access within buildings. Some products are more sophisticated – and therefore more expensive than others, and some require specialist skills to install, which can also increase cost.

When choosing the best products to use, if possible you should look beyond the original purchase and installation costs. Consider the cost of the ongoing maintenance and ask how easy it would be to extend the access control to more doors at a later date.

Traditional locks and keys offer a good level security, but can become difficult to manage in a building that has a large number…