The remote Clare Island shows 5G healthcare use cases in action

For the 160 residents of Clare Island, off the West Coast of County Mayo, Ireland, access to healthcare is one of the biggest challenges they face.   

A trip to the mainland is via a 25-minute journey on the ferry, and a doctor only visits the island every two weeks. People are without a local pharmacy and have access to only the most basic healthcare services. 

In an emergency, the remote nature of the island means help won’t necessarily come immediately. 

Despite this, it's perhaps why this remote location is the perfect place for innovation – giving a live demonstration of 5G healthcare use cases which benefit islanders. 

“If we can make it happen here, we can make it happen anywhere,” said University of Galway’s Professor Derek O’Keefe in the film.

Healthcare services underpinned by technology infrastructure

With funding from Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration programme, a new private 5G network, combined with Ultra-Reliable Wireless Backhaul provides connectivity directly into people’s homes. 

For healthcare provision, it means the people of Clare Island can get consultations over video collaboration tool Webex, helping avoid time-consuming trips to the mainland just to speak to a doctor. 

Using wearables, conditions can be continuously monitored with preventative intervention possible by spotting changes in data. 

Many patients have been able to alter their medication in a timely fashion rather than wait for the next scheduled doctor visit. And in one case, a potential heart attack was averted through signs spotted by the technology. 

Healthcare innovation like this not only offers a glimpse into the future, but also clear synergies with what we want to achieve at The Lister Alliance. It shows co-creation at its best. By bringing the needs of the community into our approach, we can provide a new way forward for technology within healthcare – with infrastructure underpinning new services that improve life for both patient and clinician. 

The residents of Clare Island now have access to digital healthcare around the clock. And they aren’t stopping there. 

Testing is underway for advanced use cases such as drone delivery and even assistance robots. The tests will explore how a robot could deliver equipment such as a defibrillator, insulin, or EpiPen to a patient's location through GPS.

It’s great to see this technology already in use, and inspiring to see what could be possible. The citizens of Clare Island are experiencing the healthcare of the future – one which better integrates technology into services for the benefit of everyone. 

We’re excited to see where this trial goes next, and we’ll also be looking to see what findings we can take into our programmes within The Lister Alliance. 

See the future of healthcare in action on our Living Labs page.