Skyports adds another drone delivery notch with successful UK medical transport trial

In another indication that medical transport services may well be the largest initial activity for emerging drone delivery operators, UK company Skyports says it has successfully wrapped up a month-long trial of aerial shuttles with the nation’s EMED Group.

EMED, which is the largest general transport service provider to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), joined Skyports Drone Deliveries in the four-week test that recently came to a close. The operation was a proof-of-concept trial conveying patient lab samples and other materials between East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) medical facilities.

The effort was dubbed a success after EMED relied on Skyports for dedicated drone courier runs between delivery destinations, ultimately transporting over 400 pathology samples. 

Read: RigiTech’s Uruguay BVLOS medical drone delivery trials ‘first in Latin America’

While hardly novel in its objectives or functioning, the program was important in demonstrating the new aerial transportation option is sufficiently fast, reliable, safe, and financially advantageous for NHS organizations to pioneer them as regular capabilities.

“This is a really exciting step in looking at new technologies to help deliver healthcare faster,” said Shelley Garrey, lead of support services for ESNEFT. “Using drones mean patients will receive their results quicker while saving time and resources. This is an exciting pilot project, and we hope we can look to expand in the future.”

Skyports has been at the forefront of earlier and still developing medical drone delivery trials in the UK, including the ongoing creation in Scotland of what officials there say will be the first nation-wide UAV network dedicated to healthcare services. 

Read more: Scotland’s medical drone network opens phase two development

Since initially being called into action during the COVID-19 pandemic to meet the spiking urgency to transport protective gear and treatment material to more remote spots around the UK, Skyports has multiplied and specialized its steadily scaling drone delivery actives for both healthcare and commercial clients, at home and abroad.

While the launch aerial transport services of retail goods and food orders tend to generate the sexiest headlines, drone deployment in medical and first responder operation has arguably been more frequent – and will probably continue to be the biggest source of activity in the early era of UAV expansion.

As it did in earlier phases of work, for the EMED-NHS trial Skyports used fixed wing, three-kilogram payload capacity Kookaburra III delivery drones made by Australian company (and frequent partner) Swoop Aero.

In notching up another success in the company’s diversified drone delivery activities, Skyports director Alex Brown called the trial with EMED a major boost to the startup’s momentum in expanding its UK and international operations.

“We’re at a really important stage in the scaling of medical drone logistics,” said Brown. “Projects such as this one with EMED are helping pave the way for permanent operations by demonstrating just how safe, beneficial, and effective drone services are – and the ease with which they can be implemented. Each delivery we complete ensures that a patient receives the care they need that bit quicker. At scale, the impact is transformational.”