20th September 2018 Opportunity knocks for wi-fi solutions in extended healthcare market

Public wi-fi connections are pretty much ubiquitous: stations, shopping malls, coffee shops, hotels. Indeed, any place where people spend time. Many of these are provided to increase the footfall with the added incentive of collecting personal information about your interests and preferences that can be used for future marketing campaigns. However, one area that doesn’t need the increased traffic or repeat business is in the healthcare arena.

Government wi-fi initiative

Whether it was patient demand or simply an initiative from the NHS, the government’s commitment to provide free wi-fi to all patients and staff by 2020 is expected to make dramatic improvements to care and to the experience of visiting a GP surgery, clinic or hospital. Certainly, an extended stay in a healthcare centre can be more enjoyable for patients who can access free wi-fi and as a result help themselves in the recuperation process. According to the director of digital experience at NHS England “Installing fast and free-to-use wi-fi in NHS buildings is an important first step in the delivery of a digital healthcare experience. It will help patients to manage their health by opening up access to digital platforms such as online pharmacy services and approved patient apps and enable doctors and nurses to maximise the benefits of new technologies. Patients will be able to access their GP record online through the Patient Online portal whilst in their consultation, empowering them to take more of an active role in discussing and managing their condition, which we know leads to better health outcomes.”

Security remains paramount

Of course, no-one doubts the productivity and efficiency that wi-fi can bring to medical staff and to the improved patient experience, but it can’t come at a cost. To achieve the outcomes desired by NHS Digital, Wireless local area networks (WLAN) reliability is of paramount importance as it’s often supporting vital functions required by both new technology and user demand. Access control and application security are critical to its success. Protecting patient data and regulatory compliance such as GDPR require robust solutions as healthcare remains a key target for cybercriminals. Indeed healthcare suffers the most cyber attacks of any industry.

With the increase in connected medical devices and BYOD continuing to grow, healthcare providers have to examine their WLAN infrastructure to ensure they can continue to meet bandwidth and critical services demands without compromising security. While firewalls keep many external threats from entering the network, IoMT and BYOD devices are easier targets for cyberattacks.

Allied Market Research predicts that the IoT healthcare market will reach $136.8bn worldwide by 2021. Today, there are 3.7m medical devices in use that are connected to and monitor various parts of the body to inform healthcare decisions.
Access control and identity management becomes more complicated by more people and more devices attempting to connect to the network. Ensuring unauthorised users cannot access confidential information whilst maintaining robust connectivity is a security balancing act. However, identity management systems, access layer security and clear visibility of activity on the network are key to alleviating the issue. Centralised authentication and secure single-sign-on solutions that give authorised personnel access to many applications under a single login credential can ensure efficiency for staff, while keeping others out. In addition, it makes perfect sense to create a separate guest network in healthcare environments where wi-fi’s primary purpose is to improve the patient experience rather than tackle a health issue. Keeping visitors off the network that contains confidential information is an easy win.

Potential

Whilst the program to introduce wi-fi into GP surgeries, clinics and hospitals in the UK is well under way, there is still a big potential market in allied areas such as care homes where the same case for improving the experience can be made for both residents and visitors. A recent government market study* estimates there are around 5,500 different providers in the UK operating 11,300 care homes for the elderly. With the office for National Statistics predicting a 36% growth in persons aged 85+ between 2015 and 2025, from 1.5m to 2m, the number of care homes are likely to increase. That provides another opportunity for the channel to provide wi-fi services and other technology.

Exertis provides a number of solutions from wi-fi partners with propositions from Ruckus, Huawei and Fortinet and leading wireless onboarding solutions including Captivnet and Cloudpath.

* https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-homes-market-study-summary-of-final-report/care-homes-market-study-summary-of-final-report