Page 10 - EE Times Europe March 2022
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10 EE|Times EUROPE



            TELEMEDICINE
           Bumpy Ride for 5G in Health Care


           By John Walko


                 he established, often-paternalistic   monplace, not least for rural communities.
                 global health-care system is facing   And not all are related to technology.
                 a necessary — but not universally   Gaining acceptance from patients can be a
           T welcome — shakeup, driven by the   frustrating hurdle, and from the other side of
           arrival of ever more capable communication   the equation, the reluctance and skepticism
           technologies, especially 5G.        of some health-care professionals are also
             Advances are already being seen and   erecting barriers.
           deployed in numerous areas of the sector,   “The health-care sector has traditionally
           such as remote surgery and patient moni-  been slower than others to adopt digital
           toring, wearable devices, tracking patients’   ways of working, but Covid-19 has prompted
           movements within facilities, and transferring   health-care professionals and organizations
           larger and larger medical files and images   to quickly embrace technologies to help
           almost instantaneously.             resolve the immediate challenges, and [they
             Such developments are opening up    are recognizing] the need to fundamentally
           opportunities to create and operate a    rethink their models around the provision of
           much more efficient and modern health-care   care using emerging technologies,” said Lucy
           system — one that is better-connected and   Baker, service technology director at U.K.   Lucy Baker, service technology director at U.K.
           more intelligent, thus offering prospects    national carrier BT, in an interview with EE   national carrier BT
           for significantly improved outcomes for   Times Europe.
           patients and more convenient ways of work-  Baker noted that during the pandemic,   The group was the first in the U.K. to
           ing for providers.                  parts of the U.K.’s National Health Service   demonstrate a remote-controlled ultra-
             The improvements are already yielding   (NHS) saw a decade’s worth of digital    sound scan being transmitted over a public
           results, with the fourth generation of cellular   transformation take place over a matter of    5G network. The work is part of the group’s
           and 4G LTE linked with high-quality fiber con-  just months.            “Connected Ambulance” concept, which
           nectivity. But given the potential to link 5G’s   BT has been exploring the potential uses   allows front-line teams to diagnose and triage
           much higher speeds and lower latency with   of 5G, focusing on ultrasonography. The   patients remotely, supported by clinicians
           advances in edge computing, telemedicine   company has collaborated with the Medi-  in the hospital who can interpret the images
           could transform most of the critical compo-  cal Devices Testing and Evaluation Centre   sent in real time.
           nents of health care.               (MD-TEC) as well as parts of the NHS — nota-  Baker added that last year, the group car-
             There are, however, important hurdles to   bly, the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS   ried out a large-scale study, in collaboration
           overcome before these advances become com-  Foundation Trust and West Midlands 5G.  with iGov UK, that highlighted the increase


































                                                                                                         (Source: BT)


           MARCH 2022 | www.eetimes.eu
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