diff --git a/.release-version b/.release-version
index ec6d649b..815d5ca0 100644
--- a/.release-version
+++ b/.release-version
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.18.1
+1.19.0
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index c4661e77..61666267 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ gem 'concurrent-ruby', '<= 1.3.4' # see https://github.com/rails/rails/issues/54
 gem 'csv'
 gem 'drb'
 gem 'exception_notification'
+gem 'faraday' # used for Sequencescape health check
 gem 'hashie'
 gem 'jquery-rails'
 gem 'json_api_client'
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index c0811f51..ff2d8288 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ GEM
     base64 (0.3.0)
     benchmark (0.5.0)
     bigdecimal (4.0.1)
-    bootsnap (1.21.1)
+    bootsnap (1.23.0)
       msgpack (~> 1.2)
     bootstrap-datepicker-rails (1.10.0.1)
       railties (>= 3.0)
@@ -130,31 +130,15 @@ GEM
       actionmailer (>= 5.2, < 9)
       activesupport (>= 5.2, < 9)
     execjs (2.10.0)
-    faraday (1.10.3)
-      faraday-em_http (~> 1.0)
-      faraday-em_synchrony (~> 1.0)
-      faraday-excon (~> 1.1)
-      faraday-httpclient (~> 1.0)
-      faraday-multipart (~> 1.0)
-      faraday-net_http (~> 1.0)
-      faraday-net_http_persistent (~> 1.0)
-      faraday-patron (~> 1.0)
-      faraday-rack (~> 1.0)
-      faraday-retry (~> 1.0)
-      ruby2_keywords (>= 0.0.4)
-    faraday-em_http (1.0.0)
-    faraday-em_synchrony (1.0.0)
-    faraday-excon (1.1.0)
-    faraday-httpclient (1.0.1)
-    faraday-multipart (1.0.4)
-      multipart-post (~> 2)
-    faraday-net_http (1.0.1)
-    faraday-net_http_persistent (1.2.0)
-    faraday-patron (1.0.0)
-    faraday-rack (1.0.0)
-    faraday-retry (1.0.3)
-    faraday_middleware (1.2.0)
-      faraday (~> 1.0)
+    faraday (2.14.1)
+      faraday-net_http (>= 2.0, < 3.5)
+      json
+      logger
+    faraday-gzip (2.0.1)
+      faraday (>= 1.0)
+      zlib (~> 3.0)
+    faraday-net_http (3.4.2)
+      net-http (~> 0.5)
     ffi (1.17.3-arm64-darwin)
     ffi (1.17.3-x86_64-darwin)
     ffi (1.17.3-x86_64-linux-gnu)
@@ -169,12 +153,12 @@ GEM
       railties (>= 4.2.0)
       thor (>= 0.14, < 2.0)
     json (2.18.1)
-    json_api_client (1.21.0)
-      activemodel (>= 3.2.0)
-      activesupport (>= 3.2.0)
+    json_api_client (1.23.0)
+      activemodel (>= 6.0.0)
+      activesupport (>= 6.0.0)
       addressable (~> 2.2)
-      faraday (>= 0.15.2, < 2.0)
-      faraday_middleware (>= 0.9.0, < 2.0)
+      faraday (>= 1.10, < 3.0)
+      faraday-gzip (>= 1.0, < 3.0)
       rack (>= 0.2)
     language_server-protocol (3.17.0.5)
     launchy (3.1.1)
@@ -207,12 +191,13 @@ GEM
     minitest-rails-capybara (0.0.2)
       capybara
       minitest-rails
-    mocha (3.0.1)
+    mocha (3.0.2)
       ruby2_keywords (>= 0.0.5)
     msgpack (1.8.0)
     multi_json (1.15.0)
-    multipart-post (2.3.0)
     mutex_m (0.3.0)
+    net-http (0.9.1)
+      uri (>= 0.11.1)
     net-imap (0.5.12)
       date
       net-protocol
@@ -223,13 +208,13 @@ GEM
     net-smtp (0.5.1)
       net-protocol
     nio4r (2.7.5)
-    nokogiri (1.18.10-arm64-darwin)
+    nokogiri (1.19.1-arm64-darwin)
       racc (~> 1.4)
-    nokogiri (1.18.10-x86_64-darwin)
+    nokogiri (1.19.1-x86_64-darwin)
       racc (~> 1.4)
-    nokogiri (1.18.10-x86_64-linux-gnu)
+    nokogiri (1.19.1-x86_64-linux-gnu)
       racc (~> 1.4)
-    oj (3.16.13)
+    oj (3.16.15)
       bigdecimal (>= 3.0)
       ostruct (>= 0.2)
     ostruct (0.6.3)
@@ -247,7 +232,7 @@ GEM
     puma (7.2.0)
       nio4r (~> 2.0)
     racc (1.8.1)
-    rack (2.2.21)
+    rack (2.2.22)
     rack-test (2.2.0)
       rack (>= 1.3)
     rails (7.0.10)
@@ -324,7 +309,7 @@ GEM
       sprockets-rails
       tilt
     securerandom (0.4.1)
-    selenium-webdriver (4.40.0)
+    selenium-webdriver (4.41.0)
       base64 (~> 0.2)
       logger (~> 1.4)
       rexml (~> 3.2, >= 3.2.5)
@@ -363,6 +348,7 @@ GEM
     unicode-display_width (3.2.0)
       unicode-emoji (~> 4.1)
     unicode-emoji (4.2.0)
+    uri (1.1.1)
     websocket (1.2.11)
     websocket-driver (0.8.0)
       base64
@@ -372,6 +358,7 @@ GEM
       nokogiri (~> 1.8)
     yard (0.9.38)
     zeitwerk (2.7.3)
+    zlib (3.2.2)
 
 PLATFORMS
   arm64-darwin-22
@@ -391,6 +378,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   csv
   drb
   exception_notification
+  faraday
   hashie
   jquery-rails
   json_api_client
diff --git a/app/controllers/health_controller.rb b/app/controllers/health_controller.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..77a2f556
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/controllers/health_controller.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+class HealthController < ActionController::Base # rubocop:disable Rails/ApplicationController
+  # Inherits from ActionController::Base to avoid implied dependencies on Sequencescape
+
+  # Health endpoint
+  #
+  # Check connection to Sequencescape by making a health request, returns 200 if successful, or 502/504 if not.
+  def show
+    sequencescape_conn.get('/health')
+    render plain: 'OK', status: :ok
+  rescue Faraday::TimeoutError
+    render plain: 'Connection to Sequencescape timed out', status: :gateway_timeout
+  rescue Faraday::Error
+    render plain: 'Sequencescape is unavailable', status: :bad_gateway
+  end
+
+  def sequencescape_conn
+    @sequencescape_conn ||= Faraday.new(url: sequencescape_url) do |faraday|
+      faraday.response :raise_error # raise Faraday::Error on status code 4xx or 5xx
+    end
+  end
+
+  private
+
+  def sequencescape_url
+    Gatekeeper::Application.config.api_connection_options[:url]
+  end
+end
diff --git a/config/routes.rb b/config/routes.rb
index 8d11834b..da9c87a8 100644
--- a/config/routes.rb
+++ b/config/routes.rb
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
   # You can have the root of your site routed with "root"
   root 'pages#index'
 
+  get 'health' => 'health#show', as: :health
+
   resources :lots, only: %i[create show new], constraints: { id: /[a-f0-9]{8}-[a-f0-9]{4}-[a-f0-9]{4}-[a-f0-9]{4}-[a-f0-9]{12}/ } do
     collection do
       get :search
diff --git a/test/controllers/health_controller_test.rb b/test/controllers/health_controller_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a669f85c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/controllers/health_controller_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require 'test_helper'
+
+class HealthControllerTest < ActionController::TestCase
+  test 'returns OK when Sequencescape is available' do
+    test_conn = Faraday.new do |builder|
+      builder.adapter :test, Faraday::Adapter::Test::Stubs.new do |stub|
+        stub.get('/health') { |_env| [200, {}, 'OK'] }
+      end
+    end
+    @controller.stubs(:sequencescape_conn).returns(test_conn)
+
+    get :show
+    assert_response :success
+    assert_equal 'OK', @response.body
+  end
+
+  test 'returns Gateway Timeout when Sequencescape connection times out' do
+    test_conn = Faraday.new do |builder|
+      builder.adapter :test, Faraday::Adapter::Test::Stubs.new do |stub|
+        stub.get('/health') { |_env| raise Faraday::TimeoutError }
+      end
+    end
+    @controller.stubs(:sequencescape_conn).returns(test_conn)
+
+    get :show
+    assert_response :gateway_timeout
+    assert_equal 'Connection to Sequencescape timed out', @response.body
+  end
+
+  test 'returns Bad Gateway when Sequencescape is unavailable' do
+    test_conn = Faraday.new do |builder|
+      builder.adapter :test, Faraday::Adapter::Test::Stubs.new do |stub|
+        stub.get('/health') { |_env| raise Faraday::ServerError, 'Internal server error' }
+      end
+    end
+    @controller.stubs(:sequencescape_conn).returns(test_conn)
+
+    get :show
+    assert_response :bad_gateway
+    assert_equal 'Sequencescape is unavailable', @response.body
+  end
+end