Published: Tuesday, 22nd July, 2008 12:40pm

Parents and staff put their finger on security

by James Kell

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STAFF and parents at an NHS nursery have put their finger on a new security system.

A fingerprint scanner will used to authorise adults to enter the Little Dragons nursery at Bath Road, which looks after around 62 youngsters of Berkshire Healthcare Trust staff. The trust are the first health organisation in the UK to use the system.

Nursery manager Debbie Symmons said: "We've had it running for about two weeks now and we've had no problems apart from when one or two finger prints haven't been read the first time.

"Parents have obviously asked questions, they wanted to know more about it which is understandable, but we've had a really good response.

"The benefit for us is that we don't have to take staff away from the children to answer the door. We've also got a video link in so if we're ever unsure we can talk to someone through that."

Parent Sarah Evans, mother of two-year-old Charlie said: "When we had the letter we thought it was quite exciting. I didn't have those concerns about giving information, but I suppose other parents might have done, thinking it was a bit ‘Big Brother', but when it comes to security for the children, that's much more important than who's got what information and I think a lot of parents thought the same."

The system, which costs around £4,000 is supplied by Reading-based UK Biometrics and company regional director Nick Morse said: "We were happy to talk to parents about this beforehand and they were largely very positive because the only information that's stored is a name, whether they are a parent or staff and fingerprint characteristics, not even a full fingerprint. And that's stored on a stand alone computer which isn't networked."

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