Page 12 - EE Times Europe March 2022

12 EE|Times EUROPE

Bumpy Ride for 5G in Health Care

in demand for remote health care. The study no delay while the paramedic performing the using 5G-connected wearable devices will
found that almost all NHS staff (98%) were ultrasound is being remotely guided by the really come into play. The monitoring of
seeing additional demand for remote services, clinician back at the hospital, or in the send- patients in the community, through the next
though admittedly the surge was recorded in ing and receiving of the ultrasound images.” generation of wearable devices, will quickly
the midst of a pandemic. And she pointed out that the solution, become the norm.”
“We have seen how remote consultations which combines haptic technology with 5G She further suggests that wearables will
have helped to avoid unnecessary patient virtual and augmented reality, “can virtu- support the prevention of medical conditions,
visits to GPs [general practitioners], surgeries, ally transport the remote clinician into the giving people the information they need
and hospitals while enabling physicians ambulance for a truly immersive experience. to help them manage their own health and
to perform safe initial screening and pro- Wearing a VR headset, remote clinicians can well-being more independently.
viding universal access to medical advice,” visualize what the paramedic sees in the Of course, BT is not alone in readying
said Baker. “We have also seen an increased ambulance, overlaid with key real-time infor- smart-hospital scenarios. For instance, in
demand for and acceptance of use cases mation — ultrasound scans, vital signs, and South Korea, KT Corp. and Samsung Medical
such as remote patient monitoring, medical records.” Center are pioneering a facility that would
AI-enabled triage and diagnostics, and A robotic or haptic glove worn by the deploy 5G-connected cameras to allow
population-level health analytics that have paramedic allows the remote clinician to high-quality video and audio streams of an
led providers, including BT, to accelerate the guide the paramedic in real time to position operating theater to be shared with other
development of digital health solutions using an ultrasound probe for key scans. “This solu- rooms, thus improving the training and edu-
5G technology. tion demonstrates how more efficient use of cation of physicians.
health-care resources can ease the burden on And the rewards for coming up with any
hospital and accident and emergency [A&E] widely adopted solutions can certainly be
Gaining acceptance [of 5G services,” said Baker. “Diagnosing patients healthy for participants. A report published
advancements] from patients in the ambulance can reduce the number of in early February by New York–based Market
hospital and A&E visits, freeing up scarce Research Future posits that the global
can be a frustrating hurdle, NHS resources, reducing road congestion, and 5G health-care market will be worth
and the reluctance and speeding up treatment for the patient.” US$4.2 billion by 2028, with compound
annual growth rate predicted to be 74.5% over
With 5G, “these types of connected health-
skepticism of some health- care solutions will be possible on a massive that period.
scale for the first time,” Baker said. “That is Having noted that, the market researchers
care professionals are also because the wealth of information that will cautioned that “the expensive cost of deploy-
erecting barriers. need to be gathered from patients, clinical ing a 5G network is projected to limit this
departments, and field practitioners and then
market’s growth.”
transmitted and analyzed can only be reliably Some of the most active and notable play-
supported using the extra capacity, band- ers are said to be AT&T, Qualcomm, Verizon,
“The arrival and increasing maturity of width, resilience, and low latency of 5G.” Vodafone, Ericsson, Huawei, Airtel, Cisco,
5G are accelerating discussions, with the She added that professionals working in the Sierra Wireless, U.K. group Telit, Orange
technology enabling many of the more sector “need to look at technology holistically, (France), NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Telefonica
groundbreaking, ultra-low–latency health- tapping into other intelligent technologies (Spain), and, as noted above, BT Group.
care applications — such as remote surgery available today, in addition to 5G, that can Consultancy firm PwC, in a recent report
and diagnostics — to bring clinical expertise really improve current processes. For exam- on 5G in health care, agreed that combining
directly to patients when and where they need ple, fixed connectivity, mobility solutions, and 5G with other leading-edge technologies
it most,” she added. cloud enablement are all solutions that can has the potential to transform many aspects
Despite the health sector’s clear ambitions change the game for the industry. There are of patient care in the long term — but “long
to digitize care services, however, NHS staff so many use cases for these technologies that term” is the caveat here, as the firm also
also cited considerable barriers to technology we can see within the health-care sector.” cautioned that widespread implementation of
adoption, cautioned Baker. In a study last year For instance, Baker noted that in a separate 5G is still some ways off. Broad acceptance of
in partnership with iGov, cost was tradition- project, again with University Hospitals 5G applications like wearable medical devices
ally perceived as the biggest challenge in the Birmingham, teams worked on trials of a and telemedicine is not likely to occur in the
public sector, she said. “The study indicates remote diagnostic station to help trans- next few years, PwC said.
that concerns over cost (39%) are far out- form the way care is delivered to patients. The consultancy’s report also highlights
weighed by a cultural resistance to new digital “The station enables clinicians to work with that, with such sensitive and confidential
processes (60%). Plus, 14% of organizations multidisciplinary teams and give remote medical data involved, concerns about secu-
do not yet have a formalized digital transfor- clinical support using digital stethoscopes rity and privacy are already being raised about
mation strategy.” and ECGs to review and provide diagnoses for health-care records being transferred across
The figures suggest that “there needs to be patients — away from their locations — in real enormous, often-global public networks. ■
a cultural shift across every level,” Baker said. time and over a converged 4G/5G and Wi-Fi
Expanding on the technology advances and network,” she said. Editor’s note: Congratulations to Lucy Baker,
referencing the Connected Ambulance project In this way, the whole process can be much who was recently awarded an MBE (Member
as an example, Baker noted that the superfast faster, delivering the best possible care. of the British Empire) in the Queen’s Birthday
speeds offered by 5G ensure sharper, more Looking to the future, Baker posits that Honours list for services to the NHS during the
reliable ultrasound imagery for clinicians patients will increasingly be diagnosed and Covid-19 pandemic.
back at the hospital than previously achieved treated in their homes, community drop-in
with 4G, leading to more accurate diagnosis. centers, care homes, and even pharmacies. John Walko is a veteran electronics industry
“The low latency of 5G also means there is “This is where real-time health monitoring reporter and EE Times Europe contributor.

MARCH 2022 | www.eetimes.eu