Vodafone launches dedicated healthcare division

Operator Vodafone has announced Vodafone in Health – a new division designed to ‘accelerate the use of technology in healthcare.’

Vodafone in Health is intended to be a ‘trusted advisor to the health sector’ and will work in partnership with it to develop technology products and ‘support the delivery of better patient outcomes.’ Which is a rather robotic turn of phrase which presumably means patients getting better quicker and more often.

The new division will work with the NHS and other healthcare providers (both private and public) in order to ‘create the building blocks for change’ and accelerate digital transformation in the sector, which it says will free up workforce time and increase efficiency and productivity.

“I’m really excited to be leading the newly created Vodafone in Health division which will act as a technology advisor and innovation hub for all our healthcare partners and customers,” said Anne-Marie Vine-Lott, Head of Health for Vodafone UK. “Our focus is on supporting health providers to work beyond organisational boundaries. To help them drive better outcomes for patients through better connectivity and the modernisation of technology.”

It’s pretty vague stuff at the moment from Vodafone, but teched-up healthcare is defiantly a trend that’s being talked about if not implemented to a very noticeable degree, and telcos seem keen to position themselves early to get in on the action.

Last month BT launched its ‘virtual wards’ programme, designed to give the NHS and other healthcare providers some technological solutions to patient care, including apps, AI monitoring and online consultations. BT into slightly more detail with its proposition, which will apparently involve devices that monitor health conditions like COPD and heart disease, and AI systems that capture health information in real time and enable doctors to perform ‘virtual ward rounds.’

In January Netherlands-based operator KPN snapped up integration and data management firm Itzos to bolster its healthcare division. The firm said it plans to integrate Itzos into KPN Health to help it realise its ambition to connect data between different healthcare based systems, supposedly making collaboration and information sharing easier.

And last year Virgin Media O2 and the NHS collaborated to build the UK’s ‘first 5G connected hospital’. The Maudsley Smart Hospital and Maudsley Smart Pharmacy trials are funded by NHS digital with tech provided by VMO2 and Nokia, and are designed to explore the efficiency, safety and security benefits of using 5G-connected technologies in hospitals.

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