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Openreach chooses Lancashire villages for new rural broadband trial

SOME of the fastest and most reliable broadband in the UK is heading to the villages of Hesketh Bank and Parbold, after they were named as 2 of 13 rural communities to benefit from a new broadband trial. Openreach engineers will be working in the Lancashire villages to test a range of new tools and techniques as they install the latest 'full' fibre to the premises (FTTP) broadband.  In some areas the 1st homes and businesses could order FTTP in time for Christmas, with work continuing during 2020. Once services are live, people living and working in Hesketh Bank and Parbold will have access to download speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second (1Gbps) that's about 18 times faster than the current UK average. Across the UK, more than 50,000 homes and businesses are included, and it's hoped the pilot will pave the way for a much bigger upgrade of rural homes and businesses in smaller, less accessible remote locations.

Kim Mears, Openreach's Managing Director for Infrastructure:- "This is a really important trial for Openreach and it's great that Lancashire is set to play a leading role. We understand the importance of bringing great connectivity to rural communities, and as well as providing fantastic broadband for people living in Hesketh Bank and Parbold, we hope this provides us with the platform to extend our reach to hundreds of thousands more rural premises in the coming years.  We have already done a lot in Lancashire, through our partnership with Lancashire County Council and by joining forces with a number of communities who've asked to work directly with us. But we know there is more to do and we can't waited to get started."

The trial is part of Openreach's ambition to extend its FTTP network into areas that were considered more difficult or expensive for the private sector to upgrade commercially; and could potentially become eligible for being included in Openreach's 'Fibre 1st' investment programme in the years ahead; if the right investment conditions are met. Openreach engineers are testing a number of innovative tools; that enable work to be done faster and at less cost, including a specialised trench digging tool called a diamond cutter. It's a giant rotating circular blade with diamonds embedded in the metal coating on its edge, enabling it to slice through pavements and roads leaving a neat channel into which the machine simultaneously feeds in tubing for fibre optic cables. The specialist kit is capable of installing 700 metres of cabling a day; more than 20 times that by a standard  -person civils team using traditional methods of drilling and excavation, slashing the time taken to deploy fibre by months.  The company is also trialling:- 'remote nodes' where fibre optic cables can be built out from specially adapted existing green roadside cabinets. Specialised broadband boosting equipment installed inside the cabinet enables full fibre connections to extend by more than 1 and a ½ times their current reach, with the capaCity to connect more than 1,000 premises. By 'piggy backing' on our existing network, engineers can take full fibre further and faster; while avoiding up to 6 months in time and associated cost involved in deploying new fibre cables or 'spines' from an exchange to remote rural areas.

Clive Selley, Chief Executive of Openreach, said:- "At Openreach, we'll never be just a City fibre provider. We've always worked hard to improve connections to isolated, less commercially attractive communities through inventive engineering and effective funding partnership models. In recent years we've been extending our full fibre network into rural areas; mostly in partnership with Local Authorities and Government, but the economics are clearly challenging and we want to do more. We know that around 10% of the country will need to the support of public subsidy, but these trials will help us test a bunch of new techniques that could help us in other rural areas. The trials will also give us a much clearer picture of what the technical challenges in these kinds of rural areas are. We hope they'll go a long way towards developing the tools, skills and innovations required to make sure that nobody's left behind in the full fibre future. According to recent Government statistics around 11 million people in the UK, or approximately 17% of the population, live in rural areas. The rural pilot locations have been carefully chosen to be representative of a much wider number across the UK with various factors being considered, including size, location, the extent, quality and make up of the existing network and access to newly skilled engineers in the area. Openreach is on track to reach its full fibre build target of reaching four million homes and businesses by the end of March 2021; and it's currently passing around 22,000 premises a week with fibre; or 1 every 28 seconds. However, the company wants to go much further; to reach 15 million by the mid 2020's and ultimately the majority of the UK if the right investment conditions are in place. The business doubled its FTTP footprintin 2018 and now in October 2019 more than 1.8 million UK homes and businesses have access to faster, more reliable full fibre services over the Openreach network. This short video explains what full fibre technology is and people interested in upgrading their broadband can see what's available in their area by entering their postcode into Openreach's online fibre checker. Openreach's commitment to the North West extends far beyond making better broadband available. Around 3,450 Openreach people live and work in the Region, and since the end of 2018 we've recruited more than 300 new fibre apprentice engineers."

St. Joseph's Hospice shows just what it takes to provide end of life care as Hospice Care Week gets underway

44 Nurses and healthcare assistants, 13 Cleaners, laundry and kitchen staff, 2 Doctors, one pharmacy technician, a 5 strong fundraising team, 200 volunteers and 30,000 meals, this is just some of what it takes for St. Joseph's Hospice to provide end of life care for people across Merseyside and West Lancashire and their loved ones. And this is a fraction of what is needed for the Hospice to fund end of life care for people from across Merseyside and their loved ones every year. The Hospice also operates 10 shops, hosts seven remembrance services and organises a calendar packed full of fun events for its local community.

St. Joseph's Hospice is 1 of more than 200 charitable Hospices across the UK taking who have taken part in Hospice Care Week that ran from 7 October to 13 October 2019, led by the national Hospice and end of life care charity Hospice UK.

This year, the theme:- 'This is What It Takes' will highlight that while Hospice care is provided free for people with life-limiting conditions and their families, it is not cheap and takes a lot of skills, people and resources.

Hospice care is about much more than medical care as Hospices provide a wide range of services, including wellbeing therapies such as massage and reflexology, bereavement counselling and befriending. It means that Hospices depend on the contribution of many other people such as:- Cleaners, Cooks, Therapists, shop staff, Gardeners, as well as countless dedicated volunteers.

In order to provide all this, Hospices rely heavily on the generous support of their local communities, including from companies, donors and Hospice fundraising supporters. This year, many charitable Hospices are facing considerable financial challenges, so the support they receive from the public is more important than ever before.

St. Joseph's Hospice is marking Hospice Care Week by hosting a week full of awareness raising events for all sectors of the community and local business, as well as staff, volunteers, patients and families, and showing the public what it needs to provide its services, using the hashtag #ThisIsWhatItTakes.

Mike Parr, Chief Executive of St. Joseph's Hospice, said:- "Hospice Care Week is really important as it gives Hospices across the UK a national voice and helps us to show people just what Hospices do day in, day out and how vital fundraising is to keeping them open and providing the care that is so important to those living with life-limiting illnesses and their families. Like all Hospices, St. Joseph's Hospice has to continue asking people from across the communities we serve for their support and we have to find new ways of engaging with new supporters. This is the only way we can continue to provide all the care and services we do for those approaching the end of their lives."

Tracey Bleakley, Chief Executive of national Hospice and end of life care charity Hospice UK, said:- "Hospices provide incredible care and improve the lives of so many people with life-limiting conditions and their loved ones. During Hospice Care Week, we'd like to give a big shout out to everyone involved in making this happen for over 200,000 families every single year and show just what it takes. We want to give people a 'behind the scenes' glimpse of the sheer diversity of people and resources that goes into the compassionate care provided to people at the end of their lives and why Hospices are truly at the heart of their communities. We hope that in Hospice Care Week people will be inspired to support their local Hospice in different ways; whether by donating, volunteering or helping to spread the word about Hospice care on social media. This year is proving to be really tough for the Hospice sector on several fronts, whether related to fundraising or recruitment challenges, so it has never been more important for people to support their local Hospice."

Each year in the UK, Hospices care for than 200,000 people with terminal and life limiting conditions and also provide bereavement support for more than 40,000 families.