Our 5G Health and Social Care testbed extended

We’ve had some good news! The health and social care project Liverpool’s 5G consortium is running in Kensington, Liverpool, has been given an extension for an extra year. 

Our project is getting a further £0.94M in funding from the government, in recognition for the great work that’ taken place in Liverpool. It brings the total DCMS funding for Liverpool Health and Social Care to £4.9M. The Liverpool 5G consortium partners hope to match this money with an additional £0.54 million.

The extra funds will be used to extend the volunteer trials taking place in Kensington. This will give project partners more time to collect data that shows how 5G supported health and social care devices and apps have the potential to save services money, improve wellbeing for users, and free up valuable time for paid care providers who can be deployed elsewhere. 

The extended timescale and extra funding was announced jointly with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) at the Liverpool 5G Showcase Event at Sensor City, Liverpool.

The project’s lead, Rosemary Kay, applauded the announcement: “This recognises the great work taking place across the project and gives us more time to explore the benefits of providing affordable 5G technology to people living in digitally deprived communities, with long-term health conditions.”

Margot James, Digital and Culture Minister, added: “I recently visited it and saw first-hand how 5G can improve quality of life and transform the way health and social care is delivered in our communities.”