Safekeeping by TBH

United States · United Kingdom · Africa · Asia · Australia · Europe

Secure storage for patients, visitors, and hospital staff.

Safekeeping by TBH brings professional, staffed, insured item storage to hospital environments worldwide. One desk. Three audiences. Nothing for the hospital to manage, finance, or risk.

When a patient asks where their things are — the question a family member asks at the nursing station, the question a patient asks after surgery — TBH has a documented answer.

Patient belongings are lost, stolen, and damaged in hospitals every day. Everywhere.

This is not a rare event. Research and incident reports from hospitals across every continent document the same pattern — patients are most vulnerable when they are least able to protect themselves. And hospital staff are not immune either.

United States

Nearly 6% of patients experienced theft in 2022 (IAHSS). Harborview Medical Center reported over 300 lost item incidents in a single year through its Emergency Department alone. Even small healthcare centres pay five to six figures annually in patient reimbursements for lost valuables.

United Kingdom

One NHS Trust alone paid over £273,000 in compensation for lost patient possessions over five years. NHS health workers paid £70.5 million in parking charges in 2023-24, yet nursing staff report carrying wallets, phones, and keys through 12-hour shifts because there is nowhere secure to leave them. The House of Commons Health Committee has called on the NHS to assess provision of places for staff to store their belongings.

Africa

In Ghana, a thief disguised as hospital staff moved ward to ward stealing from dying and cholera patients while nurses were on duty. In most public hospitals across sub-Saharan Africa, there is no ward safe, no storage infrastructure, and no alternative. Where a patient's phone is their bank account and their bag contains a week of savings brought to pay medical bills, theft is catastrophic.

Asia and the Pacific

CCTV footage from a hospital ward in Uttar Pradesh, India showed a man moving bed to bed stealing phones from sleeping patients. In Samoa, nurses reported patients having cash stolen while taken for X-rays. In both cases, management acknowledged the problem but had no structural solution to offer patients or staff.

Australia

A freedom of information investigation at Royal Perth Hospital uncovered 124 counts of theft from patients between 2014 and 2015 alone — including an amputee's wheelchair. Industrial commission rulings in Western Australia capped nurse parking at $5.50 per day at major hospitals — confirming that staff welfare costs are a documented, litigated issue across the healthcare system.

Canada

In September 2026, Ontario Provincial Police charged a woman with 65 offences — including 34 counts of fraud, 13 counts of theft, breach of trust, and impersonation — for stealing from patients and staff across multiple healthcare centres in Ontario. The incidents began in February 2024 and continued for over two years. The investigation started at Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital following multiple complaints from patients and staff, before expanding to cover further hospitals where additional incidents were uncovered. Significant amounts of property were seized. The suspect had worked at the facilities throughout the period. (BBC News, September 2026.)

Emergency departments everywhere

Emergency admissions are the highest-risk scenario in every system. Patients arrive unexpectedly, with no family, and may be in surgery within minutes. This is when belongings disappear most often — and when patients have the least ability to protect themselves or advocate for their property.

of US hospital patients experienced theft in 2022 (IAHSS)

£273k

paid by one NHS Trust in lost belongings compensation over five years

£70.5m

paid by NHS staff in parking charges in 2023-24 — with nowhere secure for their belongings

upfront cost to the hospital for Safekeeping by TBH

One desk. Three audiences.

Safekeeping serves everyone in the building.

One staffed desk at or near the hospital entrance serves patients, visiting families, and clinical staff — generating revenue from all three audiences from the moment the service opens.

Audience 01

Patients

Patients admitted through the Emergency Department or elective admissions arrive with phones, wallets, keys, and personal items they cannot take to the ward. Safekeeping receives their belongings at admission, seals and weighs each bag, and returns everything on discharge.

No patient name is collected. Bags are identified by numbered seal and contact number only.

Covered for the full duration of their stay.

Audience 02 — Largest revenue contributor

Visitors and families

Families waiting through surgery, ICU family members present for hours or days, outpatient companions, and paediatric parents all arrive with coats, bags, and personal items they cannot take into wards. Safekeeping gives them somewhere secure for the duration of their visit.

Visitors are the highest-volume audience and generate the majority of daily revenue — consistently 50% or more of total transactions.

No appointment, no registration — walk-up service.

Audience 03

Hospital staff

Nurses, doctors, allied health professionals, and support staff carry phones, wallets, and keys through 12-hour shifts because locker provision at most hospitals is broken, distant, or non-existent. Safekeeping gives them a staffed, insured desk at the entrance — check in on arrival, collect on departure.

Billed at a flat monthly rate via payroll deduction. Opt-in, voluntary, cancellable at any time.

Less than a vending machine item. Less than 1% of a day's hospital parking.

Beyond the hospital

Staff covered by their institution get discounted Guardian access too.

Hospital staff whose institution covers their Safekeeping arrangement as a welfare benefit are not limited to on-site storage. Their coverage extends to the TBH Guardian network — staffed, insured storage at independent businesses in cities worldwide. Commute days, travel, days off — the benefit follows them beyond the building.

Guardian access is provided at a discounted rate agreed at partnership level. No separate registration required — staff verify with the same credentials used at the hospital desk.

Patients discharged from a Safekeeping partner hospital also receive discounted access to the TBH Guardian network for a year following discharge. Storage wherever they travel — not just at the hospital. A welfare benefit that begins at admission and extends well beyond it.

Why Africa matters most

In many African hospitals, there is no safe. No storage room. No alternative.

In the United States and United Kingdom, hospitals at least have a ward safe or a bellhop protocol to direct patients to — however inadequate those solutions are in practice. In most public hospitals across sub-Saharan Africa, East Africa, and West Africa, those options do not exist. There is no safe, no storage infrastructure, and nothing to send a family member to when a patient is admitted through the Emergency Department in the middle of the night carrying a phone, a wallet, and savings in cash.

The economic stakes are higher too. In settings where mobile money is the primary financial rail and a patient's phone is their bank account, the loss of that phone during admission is not an inconvenience — it is a financial crisis layered on top of a medical one.

In these environments, Safekeeping is not a guest amenity. It is a welfare intervention. For public hospitals in lower-resource settings, Safekeeping operates on a subsidised or charitable rate where needed. The service and its commitments apply without exception regardless of market or setting.

Safekeeping by TBH is actively seeking hospital partners across Africa. Contact us at partners@thebaghotel.com.

How Safekeeping works

The same staffed desk serves all three audiences. Each has a simple, distinct flow.

For patients — admitted or emergency

Admission

Patient's belongings are logged, sealed in a tamper-evident bag, and assigned a numbered seal. Each bag is weighed at intake. No patient name is collected by TBH.

Secure storage

Bags are held in a secure area provided by the hospital. TBH staff manage the desk during admissions hours. The hospital provides the space. TBH provides everything else.

Verification

Retrieval is verified by numbered seal and the contact number provided at check-in. No name, no medical record, no clinical information is collected or stored by TBH.

Collection

Patient or authorised family member presents the seal number and collects their belongings. Each bag is weighed at collection. Any discrepancy is flagged and investigated immediately.

For visitors and families — walk-up service

Drop off

Visitor presents bags at the Safekeeping desk. Items are sealed, weighed, and assigned a numbered seal. Contact number taken for retrieval. No appointment needed.

Visit freely

Visitor proceeds to the ward, waiting room, or surgical waiting area without bags. The desk is staffed and monitored throughout operating hours.

Collect on departure

Visitor presents seal number and collects belongings. Fee paid at collection. Extensions available if the visit runs longer than expected.

For hospital staff — daily shift storage

Arrive and check in

Staff member checks in phone, wallet, keys, or any personal items at the start of their shift. Sealed, weighed, and assigned a numbered seal. Takes thirty seconds.

Work without distraction

Staff member completes their shift without carrying valuables through clinical areas. No locker to find, no key to manage, no risk of theft from a changing room or nursing station.

Collect at end of shift

Staff member presents seal number and collects their belongings. Opt-in and cancellable at any time.

A security layer at the entrance

Not just storage inside the hospital — a security layer before the wards.

Every documented hospital theft involved a bag. The bag was the tool — used to conceal stolen phones, wallets, and valuables while moving between wards. A TBH desk at the hospital entrance removes that tool before it reaches the wards.

Remove the tool before it reaches the wards.

The Ontario case — a suspect moving ward to ward for two years, carrying stolen items in bags. The Ghana case — a thief disguised as staff, moving between wards with a bag. In both cases and in every documented hospital theft pattern, the bag was the carrying tool. A TBH desk at the entrance invites visitors to store backpacks, tote bags, and rucksacks before they enter. The tool is removed before ward access is granted.

Visitors benefit. Security improves.

Families waiting through surgery, ICU visitors, outpatient companions, and paediatric parents carry bags they have nowhere to leave. Storing at the TBH entrance desk is a genuine welfare benefit — hands-free access to wards and waiting areas for the full duration of their visit. The security outcome is a direct consequence of the welfare service, not a separate intervention requiring separate budget, separate staff, or separate management.

One desk. Three functions.

Patient belongings at admission. Visitor bags at the entrance. Staff valuables at the start of the shift. A single TBH desk positioned at or near the hospital entrance serves all three audiences from one location — the same staffed, sealed, weighed, and insured service for every person who walks through the door. No separate infrastructure. No separate staffing. One desk. Three revenue streams.

Every item. A documented record.

Because every item is photographed, sealed, weighed, and released only by seal number, TBH can answer the question "where are my things?" with evidence — not a search of the bag room.

Photo at intake

Every item is photographed at the desk before it is accepted. Timestamped and stored against the seal record. Visual evidence of the item's condition at check-in.

Sealed and weighed

A tamper-evident seal is applied. The item is weighed to two decimal places at intake. Weight is recorded against the seal number and stored in the system.

Weight as tamper detection

Every item is weighed again at collection. Any discrepancy between intake and collection weight is flagged before the item is released. Contents cannot be interfered with without detection.

Released by seal number only

Collection requires the numbered seal assigned at intake, verified against the contact number. No paper ticket, no name lookup. Every release is logged in the system with a timestamp.

The financial case for the hospital.

Safekeeping costs the hospital nothing net. It generates revenue, reduces liability, and delivers a measurable staff welfare benefit at a fraction of the cost of every comparable employee benefit.

Zero net cost to the hospital

TBH takes all operational and financial risk. The hospital provides space. The hospital earns a concession share from every patient and visitor transaction — paid monthly by TBH. The hospital's net position is zero or positive from day one.

Compensation liability eliminated

US hospitals currently pay five to six figures annually in patient reimbursements for lost and stolen belongings. Safekeeping removes that liability entirely. TBH carries comprehensive bailee's insurance covering all items from check-in to collection. Every bag is weighed at intake and retrieval — any discrepancy triggers immediate investigation.

Staff burden removed

The Beryl Institute identifies lost belongings management as a documented drain on nursing, security, finance, and patient experience departments. Every hour clinical and administrative staff spend investigating a lost phone or wallet is an hour not spent on care. Safekeeping removes this burden entirely from hospital operations.

HCAHPS and patient experience

Research from The Beryl Institute confirms that lost or stolen belongings directly impact patient perceptions and satisfaction scores. In the US, HCAHPS scores affect Medicare reimbursement. Safekeeping improves a measurable patient experience dimension — the environment and safety composite — at no cost to the hospital.

No IT integration required

Safekeeping requires no connection to hospital IT systems, electronic health records, or patient management platforms. No integration project, no procurement IT review, no dependency on hospital technology infrastructure. The service is fully operational within days of the partnership being agreed.

Parliamentary welfare recommendation (UK)

The House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee has called on NHS Trusts to conduct welfare provision assessments covering places for staff to store their belongings. Safekeeping directly fulfils this recommendation — giving NHS procurement teams an institutional mandate to act, not just a commercial case.

The commercial structure

A concession model — not a vendor contract.

Safekeeping operates as a TBH-run concession at partner hospitals — the same commercial structure hospitals use for retail cafés, pharmacies, car parks, and gift shops. The hospital provides desk space and a secure storage area. TBH provides staff, equipment, tamper-evident sealing materials, insurance, and all operational management.

The hospital receives a concession share of all patient and visitor revenue, paid monthly by TBH. Money flows from TBH to the hospital — never the reverse. Rates are benchmarked against standard hospital retail and service concession agreements and agreed at partnership level. For public hospitals in lower-resource settings, subsidised rates are available.

TBH accommodates different hospital environments through two straightforward arrangements. Where staff contribute a small amount via payroll deduction, the hospital pays nothing and earns a concession from patient and visitor revenue. Where staff use the service entirely free — in union-heavy environments or where any staff deduction requires agreement — the hospital pays a small facility fee that is fully offset by the concession it receives. In both cases, the hospital's net position is zero or positive. The right arrangement is agreed at partnership level.

For patient storage, Safekeeping operates on a single admission fee collected through the hospital's existing billing process — the same mechanism already used for facility fees and other admission charges. Every patient admitted is covered for their entire stay from the moment they arrive, with no per-day decision to make at the bedside and no opt-in process for clinical staff to manage. The hospital earns a concession share of every admission fee collected and remits the balance to TBH monthly. The fee rate is agreed at partnership level. The admission fee is handled through the hospital's existing billing process.

How Safekeeping differs from existing solutions.

vs. Ward safe

Managed by TBH, not nursing staff.

Ward safes place the management burden on nursing staff already stretched beyond capacity. Safekeeping removes that burden entirely. TBH staff operate the desk — nursing staff are not involved in intake, storage, retrieval, or dispute resolution at any point.

vs. Patient property bag systems

A fully managed service, not a product.

Systems such as SMARTSafe Belongings Bags are products sold to hospitals to self-manage. Safekeeping is a fully managed concession — the hospital buys nothing and manages nothing. TBH handles all operations, all staffing, all insurance, and all administration.

vs. Staff lockers

No installation. No keys. No queues.

Hospital lockers require building works, ongoing maintenance contracts, lost-key processes, and waiting lists of up to three years for a permit. Safekeeping requires none of these. TBH supplies all equipment. No capital expenditure and no ongoing maintenance cost for the hospital.

vs. Doing nothing

Documented liability. Real financial cost.

Hospitals that have no managed belongings solution are currently paying five to six figures annually in compensation claims, spending staff hours on investigations, and absorbing reputational risk when patients go public. Safekeeping eliminates all three at zero net cost to the hospital.

Three commitments we never compromise

No patient name collected.

TBH identifies bags by numbered seal and contact number only. No patient name, medical record, or clinical information is ever collected, stored, or shared.

Minimal data, briefly held.

Contact numbers used for retrieval verification only. Retained for 30 days post-retrieval and automatically purged. Never shared with third parties, including the hospital.

Every bag weighed.

Every bag is weighed at intake and at collection. Any discrepancy is flagged and investigated immediately. Contents are protected from the moment they are checked in.

What hospitals ask first

Does TBH handle patient data?

No. TBH does not collect, store, or process any patient name, medical record, or clinical information. Bags are identified solely by numbered seal and a contact number provided voluntarily at drop-off. Contact numbers are used for retrieval verification only, retained for 30 days post-retrieval, and never shared with third parties including the hospital. Safekeeping is designed from the ground up to operate at zero intersection with patient health data.

What does the hospital need to provide?

Desk space for the Safekeeping counter and a secure, lockable storage area for bags in transit. TBH provides all staff, equipment, tamper-evident sealing materials, and operational management. There is no IT integration required, no infrastructure investment, and no ongoing maintenance cost from the hospital.

How does the concession model work financially?

Safekeeping is a concession contract — the same commercial structure hospitals use for retail, pharmacy, parking, and food service providers. TBH supplies all staff, equipment, insurance, and operations and takes all financial and operational risk. The hospital provides space and receives a concession share of all patient and visitor revenue collected at the Safekeeping desk, paid monthly. Rates are benchmarked against standard hospital retail concession agreements and agreed at partnership level. For public hospitals in lower-resource settings, subsidised rates are available.

How does the staff arrangement work?

TBH offers two arrangements depending on the hospital's environment. Where staff contribute a small amount via monthly payroll deduction, the hospital pays nothing and earns a concession from patient and visitor revenue. Where staff use the service entirely free — in union-heavy environments or where any staff deduction requires agreement — the hospital pays a small facility fee that is fully offset by the concession it receives. In both cases the hospital's net position is zero or positive. The right arrangement is agreed at partnership level.

What happens if a patient cannot collect their own belongings?

Safekeeping operates three verified collection protocols for patients who cannot collect in person. For third-party collection — a family member or carer — TBH requires a WhatsApp or SMS authorisation from the patient's registered contact number naming the collector, who must then present their own ID at the desk. For bereavement, two TBH staff members are present alongside a hospital witness — the intact seal is photographed before opening, belongings are inventoried in the presence of the witness, and a written record is provided to the hospital and the family. For patients who are unconscious or incapacitated at admission, the contact number of a next-of-kin or emergency contact is recorded at intake and used to authorise collection when the patient is ready for discharge.

How does Safekeeping handle Emergency Department admissions?

Emergency admissions are the highest-risk scenario for patient belongings loss. Patients arrive unexpectedly, often without family, and may be in surgery within minutes. Safekeeping operates from early morning to late evening and can be positioned at or near the Emergency Department entrance to capture belongings at the point of admission — before items are left unattended at a bedside.

Can Safekeeping operate across a hospital group or health network?

Yes. TBH offers group partnership agreements for hospital groups, health networks, and Ministry of Health partnerships covering multiple facilities. A single commercial agreement covers all sites, with consolidated monthly reporting and invoicing. Contact us to discuss terms for your network.

Does TBH operate in lower-resource hospital settings?

Yes. Safekeeping is specifically designed to operate in settings where no existing belongings infrastructure exists — which describes most public hospitals across Africa, parts of Asia, and other lower-resource environments. In these settings TBH operates on a subsidised or charitable rate. The service and its commitments apply without exception regardless of market or setting.

Bring Safekeeping to your facility.

Safekeeping by TBH is expanding to hospitals across the United States, United Kingdom, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe. If you represent a hospital, health network, Ministry of Health, or hospital administration team and would like to explore a partnership, we would like to hear from you.

Get in touch