Security measures enhanced at N.C. Children’s Hospital

Sept. 16, 2004

Security measures enhanced at N.C. Children’s Hospital
 
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – UNC Hospitals has begun implementing additional measures over the last week to augment existing security in patient care units in the N.C. Children’s Hospital.

Security enhancements include the installation of additional controlled access doors, closed-circuit video cameras and other monitoring equipment. Persons who wish to enter or leave these units, including patients and their family members, now will have to be “buzzed in” by a UNC Hospitals employee.

Additional security staff members are currently monitoring entrances to the pediatric units until the new equipment is in place. Together, these new measures will provide an enhanced level of security.

“The N.C. Children’s Hospital is a safe environment for children and we want to keep it that way,” said Gary Park, president of UNC Hospitals. “We hope these new measures will give peace of mind to our patients and their families.”

These measures were put in place in response to an incident last week in which a father removed his 2-year-old daughter from the N.C. Children’s Hospital without notifying physician and hospital staff. That led to an inspection of the pediatric units at UNC Hospitals by the N.C. Division of Facility Services (DFS), which has since recommended to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that UNC Hospitals’ eligibility for federal reimbursement be terminated because patients were in “immediate jeopardy.”

A remedial plan to safeguard patients was put into effect on Friday, Sept. 10. The DFS will conduct another inspection at UNC Hospitals in the next several weeks to determine whether the new safety plan sufficiently addresses the problems identified by DFS. UNC Hospitals officials are cooperating fully with the DFS investigation.

Media contact: Stephanie Crayton, (919) 966-2860, scrayton@unch.unc.edu.