The investment is expected to cover the roll-out of 5G in the hospitals either through private networks or in-building solutions based on the desired use cases.
The recommendations from Vodafone UK are part of its ‘Better health, connected health’. The report was compiled after carrying out a poll of 2,000 people through market research company Opinium on its behalf in September 2020.
According to the report, the UK government should see that NHS hospitals procure presently available mobile technology, which includes 5G devices, applications, and IoT. This procurement will unlock investment in developing further 5G healthcare applications, said Vodafone UK.
The telecommunications company has also called the British government to inject an additional £500m for promoting the creation of 5G healthcare applications by setting up regional innovation centres. This will help in exploiting the potential of 5G connectivity even further and help the UK take a leading position in healthcare technology.
Vodafone UK said that the polling showed that the public is strongly supporting the wider use of new applications of 5G and IoT technology and for the government to invest in making sure that this is possible.
The telecommunications firm also said that with the government pledging to add 40 new hospitals in the NHS in England by 2030, the facilities should be ready to incorporate the very latest digital technology.
Its poll indicated that there is a lot of support for 5G connected ambulances. For this, the government has to invest £10m towards digitisation of 10 ambulances per ambulance trust in England.
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Vodafone UK business director Anne Sheehan said: “Our polling shows very strong public support for the Government to increase the use of the latest digital technology in the NHS so that we future-proof the UK healthcare sector.
“In particular, the public believes that the 40 new NHS hospitals promised by the Government by 2030 should be fully equipped with the latest digital technology, including 5G.
“This technology is already available and the NHS should take advantage of it now. We have a perfect opportunity to ensure that digital technology is designed in from the start, so that the hospitals of the future can use the technology of the future.”
