SwanCare: Smart Security Modernization for Aged Care
SwanCare has been a trusted name in aged care and retirement living in Western Australia for more than six decades. Their campus in Bentley, a suburb of Perth, is home to over a thousand residents and combines high-care, low-care, and independent living facilities in one community. The scale of the site makes it more like a small town than a simple care home, with multiple residential blocks, service buildings, and social spaces all spread across several hectares.
Outdated Systems and Growing Risks
Over time, the security infrastructure on the campus had become outdated. SwanCare was still relying on analog cameras and standalone alarms that were not connected to each other. Monitoring coverage was patchy, response times were slow, and there was no way to anticipate or prevent incidents. Staff had no central control room to work from, which meant valuable minutes were often lost coordinating a response. For an environment where many residents are elderly and vulnerable, these gaps in security and safety were increasingly hard to ignore. Just as in settings where video surveillance in hospitals is critical, SwanCare recognized that theft incidents and delayed reactions to emergencies demanded a serious modernization.
Defining the Requirements for CCTV Cameras in Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities
When it came to requirements, SwanCare was looking for more than just a modern CCTV cameras system in hospitals. They wanted a unified security platform that could bring video surveillance in hospitals and alarm systems together, while also adding intelligent features suited to aged care. One of the priorities was the ability to detect falls or unusual behavior automatically. Another was central monitoring, with real-time alerts that would allow staff to respond faster and more effectively. The solution also had to be scalable so it could support future expansion and integrate seamlessly with fire safety and other security infrastructure. Reliability was a key concern too since the system needed to operate around the clock with failover protection in case of hardware issues.
Choosing Axxon One Enterprise
After evaluating several options through a pilot phase, SwanCare chose Axxon One Enterprise. The decision came down to three main factors: the breadth of analytics designed for human behavior and safety monitoring, the ability to scale and provide reliable failover, and the flexibility to integrate with existing fire and alarm systems through open APIs. The platform’s interactive maps, behavior detection, and similarity search functions were seen as particularly valuable for managing a large, complex site. Similar to how hospital cameras help staff manage incidents across multiple departments, SwanCare needed visibility across residential blocks, corridors, and social spaces.
Customer
SwanCare
Location
Bentley, Perth, Western Australia
Scale
286 IP cameras, 5 primary servers plus 1 failover, 1 centralized control room
Product
Axxon One Enterprise Edition
User features
Interactive 3D map, video wall, web client, ONVIF G/S/T/M support
Integrations
Fire safety and alarm systems via SDK/API
Analytics in use
Man-down detection, human/vehicle detection, similarity search, heat maps, queue detection, PTZ object auto-tracking
Special conditions
Silent commissioning during night shifts, compliance with Australian healthcare standards
The Deployment in Practice
The deployment itself covered almost 300 IP hospital surveillance cameras, all connected to a centralized monitoring hub and supported by multiple servers with a dedicated failover backup. Video analytics were applied in entrances, corridors, and common areas, giving staff real-time tools to monitor movement patterns, detect queues, and even track individuals when necessary. In residential spaces, man-down detection was configured to alert staff when a fall or sudden loss of mobility was identified. The integration with third-party fire detection and alarm systems required some fine-tuning, but Axxon One’s SDK and API made it possible to synchronize event triggers with video bookmarks so that operators could review incidents quickly and in context.
Sensitive Implementation in a Care Environment
Because SwanCare is an active care environment, the implementation had to be almost invisible to residents. The project was deployed with minimal disruption to daily operations — essential for a live care environment. Installation work was planned to avoid disruption, and even the system commissioning during night shifts was carried out in silence. Privacy and compliance with Australian health regulations were also taken seriously. Secure hospital access control, strict audit logs, and policies ensured surveillance supported safety without intrusive monitoring – a concern shared by cameras in healthcare facilities.
Tangible Results from CCTV Cameras Systems in Hospitals
The difference after deployment was noticeable. With a centralized control room, staff could now see and respond to incidents in real time rather than piecing together information from separate systems. Emergency responses became faster, especially at night when staffing levels were lower. The system gave the care team better visibility into both common areas and high-risk locations, making it easier to prevent incidents before they escalated. The combination of man-down detection and other AI tools helped protect residents in ways the old analog system simply could not match.
- Centralized monitoring enabled faster incident identification and coordination.
- Emergency response times, especially overnight, were significantly reduced.
- Staff gained better oversight of common areas and high-risk zones.
- Analytics improved prevention — for example, detecting residents in high-risk locations.
These benefits mirror best practices of modern hospital security cameras systems, proving how digital transformation can directly improve resident protection.
Looking Ahead
Today, SwanCare runs on a platform that has transformed how security and safety are managed across the site. It has strengthened protection for residents, improved efficiency for staff, and laid the groundwork for future growth. The project shows how advanced video surveillance and analytics in hospitals can directly support the unique needs of aged-care environments, where the balance between security and dignity is always at the center.