NAHS Conference 2011

The association’s annual conference was again held at City Hospital in Birmingham hosted by our Chairman Peter Finch.  We were again fortunate to have a number of first class speakers who covered a range of issues.  The first speaker was Professor Martin Gill the Director of Perpetuity Research & Consultancy International Ltd.  Martin started his session by espousing that Security cannot currently be considered to be a profession although he did mollify some of us present who may have bristled at this suggestion by pointing out that this is not to say there aren’t a great many professional people in the industry.

He went on to explain that a profession has to be distinct and provided 6 examples of why security is distinct from other service elements of a business he also suggested why security can be marginalised and one element that we can all take from Martin’s comments was that to be effective an organisations security strategy must relate directly to the organisations goals.  Does yours?

Colin Holland from the Association of Chief Security Officers gave an overview of the structure and role of AUCSO and then delivered a presentation focussing on how London South Bank University had fundamentally altered their security service provision from a wholly outsourced service to one where the security manager and key staff are directly employed by the University with a tightly focussed set of performance criteria for the provider of the contract security officers.  Colin discussed key issues including the identification of service expectations, the necessary budgetary resources, agreed deliverables and highlighted the universities focus on reception functions to ensure that first impressions gained by visitors to the building in question were positive.  Colin also described how he undertook the accreditation of the security officers under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme a process that could bring benefits for healthcare security providers, staff and our “customers”

What was particularly striking about Colin’s presentation was how it mirrored in practice some of the points made by Prof Gill.

After the first break and chance to network with colleagues and the trade stands covering a range of services and providers we were treated to a polished and informative presentation from Richard Strudwick of G4S focussing on the security operation for the London Olympics, its impact and legacy.  The challenges were obvious when Richard provided the audience with a few figures: 33 venues, 17800 athletes from 203 countries, 22,000 journalists and the need to engage with the London Organising Committee, the Olympic Delivery Authority, Local & National Govt, Emergency Services, other nation’s Olympic committees, sponsors and suppliers.  While there will be a significant security presence at the games Richard was at pains to remind us that this had to be achieved with no detriment to G4S’s existing customers and without impacting on the wider security industry in London & beyond.  Of the legacy that securing the games will bring Richard identified training for staff, the ability to challenge what Richard called the myth of a 5yr return on investment in security, of particular interest to healthcare security Richard suggested that the introduction of proportionate lockdown at Olympic venues will see this concept applied more broadly.

Professor Gill then again took to the podium to deliver a presentation on behalf of Mike O’Neill from Optimal Risk who unfortunately had been unable to attend at short notice.  Martin discussed the concept of Secured Environments and the ACPO supported award focussing on the 6 Key Principles that underpin the award of Secured Environment Status, recently achieved by Adenbrooks Hospital, the first healthcare facility to achieve the award.  Martin was clear that achieving the criteria set for each of the principles provided the tools for creating a secure environment and any organisation should be capable of achieving the required standard.

After Lunch we were exceptionally fortunate to welcome Mike Bluestone the chair of the Security Institute who discussed the role of the Institute and the benefits of membership as well as the progress towards the creation of Chartered Security Professional status, and the benefits to the security industry and security professionals that milestone would bring.  Mike also discussed the future of regulation in the security industry in a post SIA landscape and work the Security Institute is doing with other bodies to establish a self regulatory system for the security industry to ensure that the momentum towards professionalisation that the creation of the SIA and licensing of security officers has had is not lost.

John Rodriguez from NHS Protect gave the audience an update on the work of NHS Protect towards introducing qualitative assessment of security in the NHS and described how he saw this as a move away from the prescriptive approach of NHS Protect that the NAHS has sometimes been critical of towards an approach which in John’s words would “put the local back into Local Security Management Specialist” confirming NHS Protect’s view that LSMS’s have the best insight into local issues.  John also confirmed that the introduction of QA would lead to an end to the requirement from NHS Protect for the submission of Annual Reports.

Will Smith an LSMS from Dorset & Somerset CFSMS gave us a brief overview of the results of a survey of LSMS’s he conducted as part of his recent dissertation.  Will surveyed 441 LSMS’s with a 35% response rate and it became clear that LSMS’s are predominately white, males with 46% aged between 40 and 50 yrs of age.  What was interesting in Wills research was that just 27% of LSMS’s are graduates with 41% of LCFS’s having achieved a degree or higher educational standard.  Perhaps more evidence that ties into both Prof Gill’s and Mike Bluestone’s comments about the professionalisation of the security industry.  Will found that overwhelmingly (95%) the title of Local Security Management Specialist was in comprehensible to staff so answers on a post card with a better title please…

Lastly Andy Wilson from Telford College of Arts & Technology provided an overview of the provision of security apprenticeships in healthcare settings and set out how TCAT are keen to work with Security managers to meet the training requirements for Security Officers employed in what has to be the most challenging environment for any security officer.

The Executive would like to thank everyone who attended, in particular our speakers and the trade exhibitors, Peter Finch and his team at SWBH for facilitating the day and Steve Davies for acting as the facilitator on the day and ensuring the event ran smoothly and to schedule.  Lastly if there is anything you would like to be covered in next years conference then please let the National Executive know.