The administrative district of Reutlingen, Germany, runs the Kreiskliniken Reutlingen GmbH with hospitals in Reutlingen, Bad Urach and Muensingen. At the beginning of 2005, the newly built Albklinik Muensingen was formally opened. The clinic, geographically located at the Middle Alb, has 105 beds with main wards for surgery, internal medicine, anaesthesia and gynaecology.

The top priority for the personnel at the clinic is to make the stay at the hospital as comfortable as possible for the patients. This requires a well-organized infrastructure. The various components of such an infrastructure include, among other things, rooms that have to be protected, sensitive data and expensive equipment, which must be protected against unauthorized access. The high security requirements resulting from these needs are ably met by products from Kaba GmbH.

Kaba GmbH already advised the hospital management, the architects and the planners of the electrical installations in the planning phase and was therefore able to provide a tailor-made security plan for the complex security and system requirements.

One of the system requirements was to equip all three hospitals with a general main key system. This was to be carried out step by step during the restructuring and redevelopment measures. The clinic personnel should thereby be able to move within all three clinics. Short-term changes in the key authorizations must be able to be carried out at short notice, without having to collect keys. Administration of the lock systems was to be carried out centrally from Reutlingen. The new Albklinik in Muensingen had top priority as this was a new building and the Bettenhaus West also had to be equipped parallel to it. The technical installations at Reutlingen also had to be re-equipped.

By using the Kaba elolegic family of products, all of these requirements could be met. The hospital staff can now move within all three clinics using their Kaba elolegic key. Up to now, around 1,200 mechanical Kaba penta cylinders, 300 mechatronic Kaba elolegic cylinders and 25 electronic Kaba elolegic readers with time and no-time functions have been installed in the three buildings.

Using the time function it is possible, e.g. to assign authorisation profiles for a limited period of time to those working shifts. Kaba penta keys with LEGIC chips are used in the key head or Kaba elolegic key fobs as data media. A lost Kaba elolegic key/key fob can be immediately blocked due to its electronics. The lock cylinder no longer needs to be replaced, as using the Kaba elolegic programmer means that changes in authorization assignments can be made directly on location at the cylinders or readers.

In accordance to the respective requirements, Kaba elolegic cylinders are mostly used at barriers/turnstiles and entrances to sensitive areas such as operating theatres and examination or technical rooms containing valuable equipment. Kaba elolegic readers are used where there is a lot of human traffic such as, e.g. at main entrances or changing rooms.

The main advantages:

• one general main key system for three clinics at various locations with a central administration
• use of mechanical and mechatronic cylinders
• access for the entire personnel at all three locations using one data media
• electronic access to rooms with high security requirements or with expensive equipment, e.g. operating theatres, X-ray
• flexible additional use of the medium for payments at canteens, laundry requirements, valorization, payment at filling stations, soft drink machines, etc.