Drones carrying key medical supplies took to the skies of Northumbria on 13 February 2023 as the trial phase of an innovative NHS project gets underway. Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is partnering with Apian to explore the use of Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to carry chemotherapy drugs, blood samples and other items between sites.
Flights will continue until Friday, 12 May along a route from Wansbeck General Hospital at Ashington up to Alnwick Infirmary and onto Berwick Infirmary.
Sir James Mackey, chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said: “With the area we cover and the number of hospitals and other sites we manage having effective logistics to get supplies where they need to be is vital, while we are always mindful of our need to drive efficiencies and reduce our impact on the environment”.
The project uses 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 drones 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 per day at the end of the trial, delivering chemotherapy medication to Alnwick and to Berwick Infirmary. Return flights from Alnwick and Berwick will deliver pathology samples to Wansbeck. Other items that may be delivered include blood packs, prescriptions, medical equipment, and mail.