Drones Are Changing Healthcare in London: Blood Samples Will Be Delivered in 2 Minutes

Electric drones will be used in London to deliver urgent blood samples between two hospitals. It will take only two minutes.

Urgent Medical Deliveries by Drones

This autumn, U.K. startup Apian in collaboration with Alphabet’s drone company Wing, and the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) will launch a programme to transport blood samples via drones between Guy’s Hospital and St Thomas’ Hospital.

The six-month pilot program will use drones to deliver urgently required blood samples for surgery patients who are at high risk of complications from bleeding disorders.

Transporting blood samples between these two medical institutions can take more than half an hour by road, but takes less than two minutes by air using drones, according to officials.

In addition to improving patient care, using drones instead of vans and motorcycles will have environmental benefits. CO2 emissions could be reduced by as much as 99% compared to non-electric cars,  while also lowering the energy required for transportation compared to electric delivery vehicles.

This is not the first initiative of its kind. Apian and Wing have previously collaborated to use drones for medical deliveries in Dublin, Ireland, and Apian has tested medical drone deliveries in rural areas of the UK. 

During these trials, it was found that the quality of blood transported by drones was maintained to the same standard as that delivered by vans and motorcycles.

“Drones can increase the responsiveness and resilience of healthcare logistics, allowing clinicians to be more productive and patients to get the care they need sooner”, said Dr Hammad Jeilani, co-founder of Apian.