Vodafone and Deloitte have teamed up on a virtual centre for digital healthcare. The new facility, called the Vodafone Centre for Health with Deloitte, combines the former’s healthcare solutions and the latter’s healthcare consultancy practice. The two will collaborate, they said, to simplify access to connected healthcare for patients and healthcare professionals.
Professionals from the two organisations working together to simplify access to connected healthcare and solutions for both patients and healthcare professionals. Vodafone said the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of connectivity to deliver critical services such as education and healthcare. It quoted a recent survey that 92 percent of European citizens think the health sector needs “urgent support” from central government.
Vodafone claims to connect more around 20 million healthcare devices globally, on its various cellular networking, edge and cloud computing, and software analytics products. It cited rollout of a 5G campus network at the university hospital at Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf (UKD). Deloitte claims to have 24,000 staff in its life sciences and healthcare team. It cited work to deliver medical supplies by drone and IoT to monitor patients’ feeding tubes.
Nick Read, chief executive at Vodafone, said: “This alliance will act as an accelerator of digital solutions to support the transformation of healthcare services and to help the societies we serve. As a digital enabler, we want to bring Vodafone’s technology and platforms, coupled with Deloitte’s depth of sector experience, to support the digitalisation of hospitals, telemedicine, virtual medical consultations, and remote solutions. As governments build back stronger, Vodafone will be there to enable their ambition.”
Richard Houston, chief executive at Deloitte in north and south Europe, said: “The pandemic has widened inequalities within our society and the provision of healthcare is not as accessible or as inclusive as it should be. We want to change that, and technology will play a critical role. Over the next two decades, healthcare as we know it will be completely transformed, with digital and connected healthcare solutions providing new and more efficient ways to diagnose, treat and support patients.”
Professor Shafi Ahmed, consultant colorectal surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust, said: “Covid has demonstrated the incredible value of collaboration between healthcare providers and industry partners to help redesign and reimagine the patient experience and improve outcomes. Connected health is vital in delivering more accessible, smart, remote and data driven personalised care.”
