Rural areas to miss smart healthcare revolution
POOR rural broadband means elderly people living in the countryside will miss out on the healthcare revolution, local authorities have warned.
Technology has been touted as the answer to social care shortfalls, but those most in need could be unable to access crucial at-home help because rural internet is too slow.
In a report about rural England, the Local Government Association (LGA) predicted that in non-city areas there would be 53 people aged 65 or over for every 100 working people aged 16 to 64 by 2039. It said people living outside cities were still struggling with slow internet, which could prevent them using smart devices that can monitor a person’s activity and alert family or carers if something seems to be wrong.
The devices have been hailed as a way to allow older people to remain independent in their own homes while reducing the need for at-home carers. The report, by the LGA’S post-brexit England commission, said there was “still an unmistakable digital divide in the country between urban and nonmetropolitan areas”.
“The commission has also received evidence from areas that some of the most significant savings within healthcare costs lie in the development of technologies that will allow rural communities to be looked after with smart devices, negating some of the need for outreach services,” it said.
“However, as detailed previously, issues with digital connectivity in nonmetropolitan areas remain a barrier to their implementation on a wider scale.”
According to Ofcom, rural areas make up the majority of the final five per cent of homes that are still unable to access superfast broadband.
New-build houses are not keeping up with ambitious plans to connect the whole country to high-speed internet, with one in five rural homes built in the past three years not connected to superfast broadband, the LGA said.
Rural areas are also poorly served by mobile coverage, with Ofcom’s most recent figures showing that only 60 per cent of rural homes and businesses can receive an outdoor 4G signal from operators.
Earlier this week, the National Infrastructure Commission warned that rural areas risked being left out of plans to introduce high-speed fibre broadband across the country and urged the Government to subsidise installation in areas where it was less economically viable for private companies.
Health ministers have spoken about the potential for technology to help care for older people, though others have raised concerns about data protection risks and the impersonal nature of a robot carer. Earlier this week, Jeremy all Hunt, the Health Secretary, said the UK would follow Japan’s example by introducing robot carers and virtual health coaches, which can track a person’s health data while they are in their home, including monitoring their vital signs and analysing their habits.
Cllr Mark Hawthorne, the chairman of the LGA’S people and places board, said: “Rural areas face a perfect storm. It is increasingly difficult for people to buy a home in their local community, mobile and broadband connectivity can be patchy, and people living within rural communities face increasing isolation from health services.”