In short: Modern care homes run fall detectors, medication reminders, video consultations, CCTV, and electronic records over their internet connection. When that connection fails, care quality drops and safety risks increase. Standard broadband isn't designed for this level of responsibility — a private 5G network is.
Key Takeaways
- Connectivity is now critical infrastructure in care — fall detectors and telecare systems that can't connect are safeguarding failures, not minor inconveniences
- Standard broadband can't deliver — no SLAs, limited coverage, no separation between clinical systems and guest WiFi
- Private 5G solves the economics — enterprise connectivity is too expensive for care budgets, but managed private networks offer an affordable middle ground
Connectivity Is Now Critical Infrastructure in Care
A decade ago, a care home's internet connection was used for email and the occasional bit of admin. If it went down for an afternoon, nobody's safety was at risk.
That's no longer true.
Modern care homes depend on connectivity for fall detection sensors, medication reminders, nurse call systems, remote consultations with GPs, video calls with families, electronic care records, and environmental monitoring. When the internet goes down, care quality drops and safety risks increase.
Yet most care homes run everything over a standard consumer or business broadband connection — the same kind of connection that struggles to stream Netflix reliably.
What Care Homes Actually Need
The connectivity requirements of a modern care home are closer to a hospital ward than a small office:
Reliability Above Everything
A fall detector that can't connect to the monitoring centre isn't a minor inconvenience — it's a safeguarding failure. Care connectivity needs to work 24/7, including during peak usage and ISP outages.
Coverage Everywhere
Care homes aren't open-plan offices. They're buildings with thick walls, multiple floors, basements, gardens, and outbuildings. WiFi from a single router in the office doesn't reach Mrs. Thompson's room on the second floor, and that's where she wears her fall alarm.
Capacity for Multiple Systems
Telecare sensors, CCTV, electronic records, video consultations, staff communication, and resident internet access all compete for the same bandwidth. When a relative starts a video call, the nurse call system shouldn't slow down.
Security
Health and care data is sensitive. CQC expects appropriate data protection. Running clinical systems and guest WiFi over the same unmanaged network creates risk.
Where Standard Broadband Falls Short
Most care homes use one of two setups:
Consumer broadband — cheap but unreliable, with no SLA, no guaranteed uptime, and limited support if things go wrong. When the connection drops at 2am, you're waiting until morning for an engineer.
Business broadband — slightly better SLAs but still shared infrastructure with limited control. You can't separate clinical traffic from guest WiFi. You can't guarantee coverage beyond the router's range.
Neither option is designed for an environment where connectivity failure has safeguarding implications.
Enterprise-grade alternatives exist — leased lines with guaranteed SLAs, managed WiFi deployments — but the costs are prohibitive for most care providers. As UKTIN notes, the service-level agreements required for care and monitoring applications are often "cost prohibitive or unavailable under commercial agreements."
What a Private Network Changes
A private 5G network designed for a care home addresses each of these problems:
| Need | What Private 5G Delivers | |------|-------------------------| | Reliability | 24/7 monitored network with managed maintenance | | Coverage | Purpose-built for your building — every room, every floor, the garden | | Capacity | Dedicated bandwidth, not shared with the neighbourhood | | Segmentation | Clinical systems and guest WiFi on separate network slices | | Security | Data stays on your private infrastructure |
What This Looks Like in Practice
Glasgow's SCSP programme is already demonstrating private 5G in care settings, developing Smart Care Homes with integrated telecare, home care, and virtual ward capabilities — all running over private 5G connectivity.
In Renfrewshire, IoT sensors have been deployed into 10,000 social homes, paired with connectivity infrastructure to support resident wellbeing and generate operational savings.
These aren't pilot projects — they're working deployments showing what happens when care providers get connectivity that matches their actual needs.
The 2G/3G Urgency
There's a ticking clock. Thousands of telecare devices across UK care homes currently depend on 2G and 3G networks that are being phased out. Replacing these devices requires replacement connectivity.
Private 5G offers a platform that won't need replacing again. Unlike 2G and 3G, 5G infrastructure is designed to last decades, supporting the next generation of care technology as it develops.
Read our detailed analysis of the 2G/3G switch-off and its impact on social care.
If you manage a care home, sheltered housing, or social care setting and connectivity is a concern, talk to us. Monthly pricing, fully managed operation, no enterprise sales process. Learn more on our health and social care sector page.