Drones will soon start transporting blood samples between two UK National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in London: St Thomas hospital and Guy's Cancer Centre. This is a project by Wing, part of Google parent company Alphabet, in collaboration with drone startup Apian.
The British capital is known for its heavy traffic. This can make delivering blood samples using vans challenging and time-consuming. This while delivering samples promptly is crucial in many cases. The trial transports blood samples for patients undergoing surgery who are at high risk of complications from bleeding disorders.
Travel between hospitals in two minutes
The drones will take off and land on the rooftops of the hospitals involved. In doing so, the devices will fly at a speed of 100 km per hour in a straight line to their destination, travelling between the two hospitals in just two minutes. Wing stresses in a blog post explaining the project that the drones will be silent and the sound will blend into the regular urban sounds.
The project has already been approved by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. The flights are expected to start later this autumn.
It is not the first trial that Wing and Apian are conducting together. The parties previously carried out medical deliveries between hospitals in Dublin, Ireland. Back then, it involved bandages and medical tools, which could be transported between the two hospitals involved in about four minutes.
Also pilot projects in the Netherlands
Trials involving the transport of medical supplies have also been carried out in the Netherlands in the past. For example, in 2021, the ANWB, PostNL, Erasmus Medical Centre and the Sanquin blood bank carried out a pilot project involving the transport of blood and medication by drone. Test flights were conducted between Rhoon and Oud-Beijerland in South Holland.
In the process, the drones took off from a meadow in Rhoon and then landed in Oud-Beijerland on an embankment along the Oude Maas river. The flights aimed to map what is required to fly in the airspace between Erasmus MC and Zeeland.
Lots of gains
ANWB, PostNL, Erasmus MC and Sanquin reported at the time that the use of drones could bring many benefits. For instance, blood and medicines can be delivered to locations faster than is possible by road. Especially in an area like Zeeland, which has few hospitals and has a lot of traffic congestion, especially in good weather, this can be of great benefit.
Trials have also previously been carried out between Meppel and Zwolle. These involved the urgent transport of medical supplies between sites of the Isala Hospital in Meppel and Zwolle. These trials were carried out by Medical Drones Services, which was set up by the ANWB and PostNL. Erasmus MC and Sanquin were also involved in this project. Other participants included the technology partners Avy and KPN.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Image: Wing
