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In the latest funding round for the UKRI Future Flight Challenge, the Welsh Ambulance Service is benefitting from new money to lead a local consortium focused on delivering savings using autonomous drones embedded into the wider health network.
Innovate UK awarded £50Ok from the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Flight Challenge to support the Welsh project along with four other innovative projects in the health sector that are using drones for delivery of medicines and medical supplies, building a deeper understanding of how drones could strengthen and future-proof healthcare logistics.
The Welsh NHS Medical Drone Delivery Network project will be delivered by Snowdonia Aerospace, SLiNK-TECH, and the Welsh Health Drone Innovation Partnership, led by Welsh Ambulance Service University NHS Trust for NHS Wales with the Welsh Blood Service.
“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.”
Andrew Stephenson MP, Health Minister.
The £300m UKRI Future Flight Challenge programme encourages the innovative use of drones to help build resilience in UK medical supply chains and help connect patients with healthcare services more quickly.
For more information about the Future Flight Challenge, visit the UKRI website.
The Emergency Services times webinar, From the skies to the scene: evolving incident response with drone integration provides more insight into how the emergency services are increasingly using drones as part of operational response.