Elon Musk’s Starlink to keep rural NHS GPs connected to the internet

Elon Musk’s satellite technology is set to be deployed to help keep GPs in rural parts of England connected to the internet.

The NHS has awarded a contract worth £85,000 to Starlink, which is part of Mr Musk’s SpaceX, to help provide internet services to GP practices and administrative offices in the North East and North Cumbria.

The five-year contract with Durham-based NHS North of England covers the hardware and installation of 15 Starlink receivers, forming part of a wider programme to upgrade the health service’s network connections.

Satellite technology is increasingly being used to tackle so-called not spots in remote rural areas, where it is not economically viable to provide mobile and broadband services to small pockets of the population.

Starlink is one of a number of companies vying to plug these gaps with constellations of low-earth orbit satellites that beam signals down from space.

However, the company has recently come under increasing scrutiny given Mr Musk’s role in Donald Trump’s White House administration.

On Sunday, Mr Musk claimed Ukraine’s “entire front line” would collapse if he switched off Starlink, which has so far played a crucial role in keeping the country connected to the internet during the war with Russia.

Starlink is not alone in operating across the satellite sector.

BT-owned EE and Virgin Media O2 are already trialling the technology, while Vodafone last week launched a new joint venture with Texas-based AST SpaceMobile to roll out satellite connectivity to users across the UK.

Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos is gearing up for the launch of a rival service – Project Kuiper – in Britain as soon as this year.

Alongside the benefits to consumers, proponents of satellite services have long argued that the technology will be vital to support emergency services such as paramedics, police and firefighters.

The West Midlands Ambulance Service last year began installing Starlink receivers on its vehicles to help improve communication and location tracking in remote areas.

Improved connectivity has also been a priority for the NHS after the pandemic sparked a surge in demand for virtual consultations.

A spokesman for the NHS North of England Commissioning Support Unit (NECS) said: “This procurement is part of a wider programme, launched in December 2023, to refresh the connectivity to the internet, HSCN [Health and Social Care Network is a new network that replaced N3] and NECS datacentres covering GP practices and NENC ICB offices.

“In order to ensure value for money and to address the unavailability of fibre technology in rural sites, the programme undertook a procurement for 15 Starlink receivers [hardware] and install services.

“Following implementation of the whole programme there will be fully encrypted protection to all secure traffic from the sites in the same way that VPN technologies provide for remote users. All NHS security considerations and governance will be provided, with NECS technical, security and governance teams closely involved.”