2nd September 2021

Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd and the South West Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications are delighted to announce the launch of the Cornish arm of the ‘Connecting Health Care project’.

Satellite dishes and associated technology have now been installed into three care homes of the Cornwall Care group, ‘The Green’ in Redruth, ‘The Headlands’ in Carbis Bay and ‘Cedar Grange’ in Launceston. The aim of the project is to explore whether satellite connectivity can support an increase in digital health and care services within care homes. 

Essential well-being services like doctor appointments and patient consultations require secure, reliable connections. By optimising satellite connectivity the project is enabling the care homes to link remotely via video consultation with health care practitioners in primary care and secondary care, where connectivity is either limited, absent or congested.

Research project lead, Anna Mankee-Williams from the University of Falmouth says “With winter looming and the associated health and social care challenges that come with this time of year, along with the continuing pressures of Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus, we hope that this project enables residents in nursing and care homes to access the same health and care services as all other members of our communities.”

The project places care homes and their residents at the forefront of technology action research and by doing so recognises the value of their work and the importance of their place in the community. The project team hope that the findings will contribute to the ongoing drive to support the local care sector in delivering high quality care to older people whilst optimising satellite capability to do so. 

Nigel Wells from Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd says, “We are keen to help users in remote locations benefit from digital connectivity over satellite links, as this can offer them connections which may otherwise be non-existent or that are in place, but choked with traffic. More and more satellite communication services are coming online and competition is expected to deliver falling prices and increasing data rates. In this project we look at how this might benefit aspects of health care provision, however the principle applies across all areas that have a requirement to connect and securely exchange data between remote locations.”

Additional Information:

The Connecting Health Care project 

A partnership of: NHS England, NHS Scotland, NHS Highland, Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd, Kernow Health, Satellite Applications Catapult, Falmouth University, University of Aberdeen, and the University of the Highlands and Islands.

With grant funding from:

The European Space Agency and the UK Space Agency.

Anna Mankee-Williams will be one of the speakers at TechExeter’s annual conference which commences on 7th September 2021

For more information and interview requests please contact the research project lead: 

Anna Mankee – Williams

University of Falmouth

a.mankeewilliams@falmouth.ac.uk

or

satcom installation lead:

Nigel Wells

Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd

nigel.wells@goonhilly.org