NHS Wales prepares for drone-based blood transfer service

Aerospace innovators will showcase technology to healthcare and government leaders, as part of a project to prepare NHS Wales for drone-based services for the transfer of blood products. 

NHS Wales is exploring the use of drones to support some of its services, with two projects underway focusing on the transfer of blood products and drone-delivered defibrillators.

The Welsh NHS Medical Drone Delivery Network project, which aims to develop a concept for a drone-based service to transfer blood products, is one of the winners of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Flight Challenge.

In April 2024, Innovate UK awarded £500,000 to support the Welsh project and four other projects in the health sector that are using drones for delivery of medicines and medical supplies.

The project will be delivered by Snowdonia Aerospace, SLiNK-TECH Ltd and the Welsh Health Drone Innovation Partnership, led by Welsh Ambulance Service Trust for the Welsh NHS with the Welsh Blood Service.

Healthcare leaders and representatives from the Welsh government will attend an event at Snowdonia Aerospace Centre on 11 July 2024, to see aerospace technology as part of the project, aviation magazine Advance reported.

A business case and roadmap for the project will be put to the Welsh government for consideration at the end of 2024.

In a press release, announcing the winners of the Future Flight Challenge in April 2024, health minister Andrew Stephenson said: “Technology has huge potential to transform the NHS for patients but it can also help automate processes behind the scenes too.

“These projects will help future-proof our medical supply chains by using drones to deliver medical products, reducing the chances of supply disruption while saving costs, energy and resources.

“If successful, they could be rolled out across the NHS to boost resilience and help people live more independent lives, building on the government’s long-term ambitions”.

Simon Masters, deputy director of Future Flight Challenge, said: “This partnership between the drone industry and the medical sector highlights the value that drones can bring to our front-line public services”.

The Welsh Ambulance Service has also partnered with the University of Warwick and industry partners SkyBound to explore whether drone-delivered defibrillators could make a difference to someone in cardiac arrest.

Resuscitation Council UK provided funding for the Drone-Delivered Defibrillators study – or 3D project , which will conclude in October 2024, with results being available in early 2025.

Digital Health News reported in September 2022, on a trial by University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that used drones to deliver pathology samples.