Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust is trialling a new service utilising electronic drones to transport urgent blood samples for patients undergoing surgery who are at high risk of complications from bleeding disorders.
The service is currently set to run as a six-month operation, formed as a partnership between Guy’s and St Thomas’, healthcare logistics company Apian and global drone delivery company Wing, with regulation by the Civil Aviation Authority and air traffic management service NATS.
The trust highlights how traditional methods have seen blood samples delivered by van and motorbike couriers which can reportedly take more than half an hour by road; in comparison, the journey takes “less than two minutes” by drone, supporting quicker analysis and decision-making for patient treatment, as well as environmental benefits around reduced carbon emissions and traffic congestion.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ shares hope that the trial could “serve as the foundation of a healthcare drone distribution network for the NHS across London”, with deputy chief executive Lawrence Tallon commenting that it “combines innovations in healthcare with sustainability to give us an NHS fit for the future”.
NATS CEO Martin Rolfe states that enabling the safe deployment of drones in central London “is a major milestone” and adds: “Working towards greater integration of drones into UK airspace will mean hugely beneficial services like this can become routine rather than the exception.”
Sustainability in healthcare
HTN recently hosted a webinar focusing on the role of digital in supporting the sustainability agenda in health and care, with insight from Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB.
We reported on the launch of a call for ‘GreenTech’ in healthcare in Ireland, which aims to identify products and services capable of promoting environmental sustainability in primary and secondary healthcare.
Earlier in the year, we noted how SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) Healthcare, in collaboration with the Greener NHS programme and the Health Innovation Network, awarded £3.2 million to 22 innovations designed to help “improve care and accelerate a greener NHS”.
London in focus
HTN took a look at Guy’s and St Thomas’ new strategy, running until 2030 and highlighting expectations around the potential offered by the next decade of digital advancements and sharing plans around EPR optimisation; attracting and funding healthcare innovation; and utilising artificial intelligence and automation responsibly.
Looking to other trusts in the capital, we recently noted how South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust is piloting VR treatment for patients with psychosis; and we examined how digital underpins plans for integrated neighbourhood teams at North West London ICS.
Other news from London includes preventative health tech company Neko launching a Health Centre in the city offering the ‘Neko Body Scan’, described as a “preventative health check for the future self” mapping millions of external and internal health data points on the body.
