CWIC 2021: Creating new models of 5G healthcare that invest in digitally deprived communities

Ann Williams will talks about findings from Liverpool 5G Create (part of DCMS’s 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme), which combines innovative digital disruption, social conscience, and a mobile network operator’s (MNO) capability. Liverpool 5G’s built Europe’s largest private, public sector 5G health/ social care network in Kensington, Liverpool. It gives digitally deprived communities free access to life changing applications (remote health monitoring, children’s anti-anxiety app, wound care management) they’d otherwise miss out on. The 5G technology operates in an unlicensed spectrum. The project offers connectivity and technologies free to project volunteers; care providers/NHS commissioning these services from Liverpool 5G (rather than an MNO) are investing money back into local communities, with circular economy benefits, and longer-term sustainability. The team’s determination to bring affordable digital solutions to the heart of communities led them to developing this new delivery model.