The United Kingdom (UK) has received its first 5G-connected hospital. It has been possible because of a partnership between Virgin Media O2 and the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
Virgin Media O2 has switched on the 5G network at the hospital and it is a part of Maudsley Digital Lab’s series of digital health and innovation trials funded by NHS Digital. It is a private 5G network which will provide dedicated connectivity for mission-critical digital health use cases for both the patients as well as the clinicians.
The trial will focus on checking whether the 5G connected technologies in NHS Hospitals are safe, efficient and secure. the trial is now live across two wards at the Bethlem Royal Hospital in South London. Things such as tracking the air quality in the wards, linking up smart devices and monitoring to reduce medical waste will be focused on during the trial.
What are the Main Things in this 5G Trial
The Virgin Media 02 Business’s private 5G network, leveraging the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) will offer high-speed, dedicated, reliable and secure data to the health professionals that they need for staying connected in real-time to the e-observations platform (eObs). There’s an eObs app which has been designed to monitor the patients' vital signs allowing the doctors or clinicians to make real-time observations and update patient records digitally through handheld devices. Instead of connecting the eObs app to the Wi-Fi network of the hospital, a 5G network will be used to monitor performance.
Bruhati is the partner for South London and Maudsley for offering IoT technology during the trial. IoT devices will be able to smartly check the storage of medicines at optimum temperature, the air quality inside wards, and more.
Technologies such as AR (Augmented Reality) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will also be used for different tests powered by a 5G network.
