Health facilities

Health Facilities

Any infrastructure designed to provide medical care for any person who may require it.

Description

Health infrastructure can occur in varying sizes and levels of intensity, often dependent upon the primary focus of the infrastructure. They can range in size from small health centres, designed to serve a small community or residential areas up to large acute hospitals which cover large urban areas.

Functions

Social

The key social functions of health infrastructure is in the provision of health care to those who require it.

Economic

The primary economic function of health infrastructure is ensuring the health of the population and workforce. Moreover, health infrastructure creates direct employment to health care professionals of all levels of education. As a secondary impact, health infrastructure creates jobs and income by purchasing goods and services from other supplying businesses and organizations.

The impact of security threats is primarily crime related (e.g. burglary, theft of medicine, violence and aggression against patients and employees). Crime generates costs in anticipation of crime (e.g. locks, surveillance, etc.), as a consequence of crime (loss of property) and in response to crime (police investigation, legal system, etc.).

Mobility

The mobility associated with the different health infrastructure facilities will vary significantly depending on the type of facility, its location, the availability of public transportation modes and the patient population.

Safety

Health infrastructure facilities are responsible for the safety of the patients within their care as well as the staff that provide that care.

Security Issues

The security risks associated with health infrastructure are also dependent on the size and role of the particular piece of infrastructure. The risk of theft is always present, especially of medicines which may hold black market value, and this risk is ever present in all types and sizes of health infrastructure, especially in urban areas. Hospitals and other in-patient treatment facilities also have inherent risks associated with weak, recuperating or elderly patients that may be vulnerable to attacks, from visitors, other patients or even staff. Another important security consideration, relevant in the wake of a serious event, is the possibility of danger arising out of large volumes of people converging on a hospital seeking medical attention or in search of injured relatives.

Measures

Policing, alarm systems, private security...

MAP

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