Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust trials medical deliveries by drone

Test flights got underway on Monday after being approved by the Civil Aviation Authority and will continue until mid-May.

The drones will fly from Wansbeck General Hospital in Ashington up to Alnwick Infirmary, and then on to Berwick Infirmary.

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has teamed up with Apian, a company which has come through the NHS Clinical Entrepreneurs Programme, to explore the use of Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to carry key medical supplies such as chemotherapy drugs and blood samples between sites.

The aim is that drone technology will enable doctors to make “same-day delivery” orders for drugs and medical equipment from anywhere in the country. It will mean medicines could be delivered to remote parts of Northumberland in a fraction of the time it currently takes to transport them by road.

The trial will collect logistical data and assess the impact on patient experience, staff resources and the environmental benefits.

Sir James Mackey, Northumbria Healthcare’s chief executive, said: “As an innovative and forward-looking organisation, we are always interested to explore initiatives which may be able to improve how we deliver care to our communities.

“Using drones has the potential to help us deliver important drugs and supplies in a better, smarter way, so we are looking forward to seeing how the test flights go.

“We are committed to providing as much care as we can in our outlying communities, so logistical routes to Alnwick and Berwick are a key focus.”

The project will use fully electric aircraft which can take off and land vertically like a helicopter before flying horizontally like a plane by combining fixed wings with rotors.

The UAVs, which are managed by Skyports Drone Services, can carry up to 3kg of payload and have a maximum speed of 110km/h (almost 70mph).

There will be six flights per day at the beginning of the trial, increasing to up to 15 flights a day, delivering chemotherapy medication to Alnwick and Berwick Infirmary.

Return flights from Alnwick and Berwick will deliver pathology samples to Wansbeck. Other items which may be delivered include blood packs, prescriptions, medical equipment and mail.

Dr Christopher Law – co-founder and medical director at Apian, which is funding the trial, said: “This trial builds on Apian’s work in the Solent where we flew the world’s first chemotherapy and delivered the UK's first prescription medicine by drone.

“While there’s still much work to be done before UAVs can operate autonomously in non-segregated airspace, there’s an equal and opposite amount of evidence for Apian to collect for how on-demand delivery can impact healthcare just as it has our personal lives.”

The project partners who have helped with the landing sites for the drones include Northumberland Estates, owned by the Duke of Northumberland, and Museums Northumberland.

As well as the test flights, the public is also being asked for its views about the use of the technology. To take part go to https://survey.alchemer.eu/s3/90531102/Northumbria-drone-trial