Proud to be part of the team led by AGS Airports, with NHS Scotland as our champion, exploring the use of drones as a logistics network for the NHS and healthcare in Scotland. Below is the AGS press release - could not say it in a better way.
NHS laboratory specimens delivered by drone for first time by Project CAELUS
Drones fly between Edinburgh BioQuarter and NHS Borders -
In a ground-breaking first for Scotland, laboratory specimens have been flown from one NHS board to another - by drone.
This step forward by the Project CAELUS initiative, led by AGS Airports in partnership with NHS Scotland, took place during a three-week flight trial between NHS Lothian and NHS Borders.
Live flying took place between the Edinburgh BioQuarter next to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Borders General Hospital in Melrose.
Invited guests were involved a special event today (21st August) showcasing the live flight trial with presentations around the work conducted by Project CAELUS.
Currently, laboratory samples which inform urgent clinical decision-making are transported by road and can take up to five hours between NHS Borders and NHS Lothian.
Innovation activity being conducted by Project CAELUS could see this delivery take 35 minutes, enhancing the transport provision, particularly for rural areas.
Project CALEUS is working with 16 consortium partners to deliver what will be the first national drone network that can transport essential medicines, bloods and other medical supplies throughout Scotland including to remote communities.
Fiona Smith, Project Director for Project CAELUS said: “Our consortium has been working extremely hard to get to this stage and we are delighted we have been able to test this important use case for the NHS.
“Transporting laboratory specimens by drone could speed up the clinical decision making allowing for same day diagnosis and treatment.
“It is also one of the first times in the UK that there has been a demonstration of beyond the visual line of sight medical drone operations transiting between controlled and uncontrolled airspace.
“This is an important milestone for our project and we now look forward to testing more potential use cases by drone across Scotland in the coming months.”
Hazel Dempsey is the CAELUS NHS Scotland programme lead: “Our aim, from an NHS perspective, is to explore opportunities where drone technology could benefit patients and NHS services in urban, remote, rural and island landscapes. The NHS is reliant on van logistics that have provided valuable service for decades, however these can take time, travelling hundreds of road miles each day. In some parts of Scotland, patients who live in remote and rural locations are dependent on ferry or airline availability.
“This project will enable the NHS to consider if drone technology is viable and able to contribute to improving the health and wellbeing of our population. This project will position the United Kingdom and NHS Scotland as a leader in healthcare and aviation industries.”
CAELUS (Care & Equity – Healthcare Logistics UAS Scotland), is part funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Flight Challenge.
It brings together 16 partners including the University of Strathclyde, Skyports Drone Services, NATS and NHS Scotland.
In the latest live flight trials, tests were also carried out on how NHS staff in future would engage with the drone both physically and digitally.
Dr Tracey Gillies, Medical Director and Executive Lead for Innovation, NHS Lothian said, “Across NHS Lothian, we are continually exploring ways to innovate and enhance our patient experience.
“Lothian and the surrounding areas are very diverse, from city to country and coastal living. Drones could play an important role in helping to transport samples for testing or speed up the delivery of critical medical supplies.
“These exciting trial flights have been a collaborative effort between our clinical leads, South East Innovation Hub and partner organisations and I look forward to seeing further developments with this project."
Laura Jones, Director of Quality & Improvement at NHS Borders said: "We are proud to be involved in Project Caelus, exploring how drone technology could provide an additional logistics service to enhance access to essential medical supplies particularly in rural parts of Scotland like the Scottish Borders.
“Our involvement in this project is part of our commitment to providing high quality person-centred care by modernising services so that they are fit for the future using the technologies that are available to us going forward."
Since January 2020, the CAELUS consortium has designed drone landing stations for NHS sites across Scotland and developed a virtual model (digital twin) of the proposed delivery network which connects hospitals, pathology laboratories, distribution centres and GP surgeries across Scotland.
In October 2023, in a hugely successful trial, flying took place between Glasgow Airport and NHS Golden Jubilee in Clydebank. This initiative was showcasing the integration of drones with modern airspace.
Live flight trials were operated by CAELUS consortium member Skyports Drone Services. The UK-based operator is an experienced provider of drone delivery, survey and monitoring services. The company has a long history of operating medical drone deliveries, including the first drone deliveries with the NHS.
The Scottish Ambulance Service also carried out a simulation study in August to better understand the feasibility of delivering an Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) via drone technology.
Paul Gowens, Associate Director, Research and Innovation with the Scottish Ambulance Service, said: “We are delighted to be a key partner in Project CAELUS. Our recent study carried out in Edinburgh was a great success as we learned more about the feasibility of delivering an Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) via drone technology. We look forward to working alongside AGS and our partners on Project CAELUS on future milestones.”
Richard Ellis, NATS New Airspace Users Director, said: “This is a major step forward for the project and its fantastic to see many of the operational concepts we’ve helped developed be put into use. We are now a step closer to realising a truly integrated airspace where drones fly safely and seamlessly alongside conventional aircraft.”
The University of Strathclyde’s principal investigator for the project, Dr Marco Fossati, said: “The latest live flight trials mark an important milestone in the journey to developing a national medical transport drone network.”
Mike McNicholas, managing director for Infrastructure at AtkinsRéalis said: “It is a fantastic step forward for the project to make its first drone delivery and to see the ground infrastructure in use as part of the test flight. AtkinsRéalis has been working closely with the AGS Airports-led consortium on the development of large, portable landing pads that can be folded up and stored when not in use, or moved to another location to receive another drone landing.
“Using a combination of digital twin technology and live test flights, Project CAELUS is able to trial various prototypes, taking learnings from each iteration to hone designs and land on something that can demonstrate the viability, scalability and efficiency of a drone network for medical deliveries across Scotland.”
Anne-Lise Scaillierez, partner at The Drone Office: "Public feedback from our engagement activities has shown overwhelming support for using drones in medical logistics across Scotland. We're thrilled by the significant progress achieved as part of Project CAELUS.”
David Hiller, Associate Director of Arup, said: “Arup has been enormously privileged to contribute to such a pivotal study, helping to better understand the human impacts of noise in relation to health and wellbeing. The study facilitated by CAELUS is one of the first of its kind and will support broader innovation globally. Cross-sector collaboration is both exciting and crucial as the capabilities of advanced air mobility technology evolve.”
Connected Places Catapult’s Ecosystem Director for Air Mobility & Airports, Andrew Chadwick said: “It is tremendous to see drones being used as part of Project CAELUS to transport essential medical supplies from one site to another, particularly as this is the first time a drone flight has operated in Scotland between two different NHS health boards.
“Connected Places Catapult has been working with NHS Scotland to develop the business and economic cases for these types of services alongside consortium members, and we look forward to exploring future opportunities for drone operations.”
The CAELUS consortium comprises:
AGS Airports
ANRA Technologies UK
Arup
AtkinsRéalis
Boldyn Networks UK
Commonplace Digital
Connected Places Catapult
DGP Intelsius
Dronamics
NATS
NHS Scotland
Plane Finder
Skyports Drone Services
The Drone Office
Trax International
University of Strathclyde
Ends
Notes to editors
AGS Airports
AGS Airports Limited was established in 2014 to invest in Aberdeen International, Glasgow and Southampton airports and is the second largest airport group in the UK.
AGS Airports Limited is jointly held by Ferrovial (via Faero UK Limited) and AGS Ventures Airports Limited, an entity controlled by Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 4 LP.
AGS Airports supports tens of thousands of jobs and contributes in excess of £2 billion in GVA to the UK economy every year. In 2021, AGS launched its sustainability strategy setting out how it will balance the undoubted economic and social benefits of aviation with its climate change responsibilities. AGS has:
Reduced its direct carbon emissions by 52% since 2018.
Achieved carbon neutrality in 2020.
Has committed to achieving net zero for direct emissions by the mid-2030s.
Future Flight Challenge
The Future Flight Challenge from UK Research and Innovation is a £125 million investment designed to deliver the third revolution in aviation. By establishing a vision for the future aviation system using new classes of electric/hydrogen and autonomous vehicles we are transforming how we connect people, deliver goods and provide services. We are working towards demonstrating the safe integration and operation of drones, advanced air mobility and regional aircraft, along with advancements in electrification and autonomy. We encourage businesses, regulators and public bodies to share knowledge and resources with each other to bring these innovative air vehicles into service safely and practically.
UK Research and Innovation
We work with the government to invest over £7 billion a year in research and innovation by partnering with academia and industry to make the impossible, possible. Through the UK’s nine leading academic and industrial funding councils, we create knowledge with impact.
Trax International
Trax is an aviation consultancy focusing on air traffic management and airport service provision with a multicultural team and worldwide reputation.We employ a multi-national team of consultants with a diverse range of backgrounds, covering regulation, economics, stakeholder engagement and communications, air traffic control, instrument flight procedure design, aircraft and aerodromes operations, pilots, commercial UAV operations and programme management.Our consultants work at the forefront of operational implementations as well as R&D activities currently being undertaken within the industry. We work with all stakeholders including policy makers, regulators and government to tackle key implementation challenges facing the sector.
University of Strathclyde Boilerplate
The University of Strathclyde is a leading international technological university based in the centre of Glasgow.
Inspired by our founding principle as ‘a place of useful learning’, our mission is to make a positive difference to the lives of our students, to society and to the world.
Strathclyde students benefit from an innovative and practical educational experience enhanced by its integration with our research capabilities, high-quality academic resources and an unparalleled industry engagement programme.
The excellence of our research is evidenced by the growth in range and scale of our research collaborations and by our performance in the Research Excellence Framework 2021 where almost 90% was rated ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’.
We have redefined how we collaborate and work with industry, government and the third sector to ensure innovation and knowledge exchange are fundamental activities that deliver tangible impact.
Strathclyde was named Scottish University of the Year 2024 in the inaugural Daily Mail University Guide, Sunday Times Good University Guide Scottish University of the Year 2020, Times Higher Education UK University of the Year 2019, and was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for its excellence in energy innovation in 2020, for excellence in advanced manufacturing in 2022 and for excellence in photonics research in 2023.
ANRA Technlogies' UK Ltd
ANRA Technologies is an international provider of airspace management solutions for unmanned aircraft operators and airspace managers. ANRA offers intelligent and modular traffic management software capabilities for UAS Traffic Management (UTM)/U-space and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operations. For organizations that need an enterprise-class drone operations solution, ANRA offers MissionManager, and for delivery solutions, ANRA offers DELIVERY. Learn more by visiting www.flyanra.com.
NATS
NATS is the UK’s principal air navigation services provider and is split into two main businesses, which provide two distinct services:
NATS (En Route) plc (NERL) — the regulated business, which provides air traffic management services to aircraft within UK airspace and over the eastern part of the North Atlantic; and
NATS (Services) Ltd (NSL) — the unregulated business, which provides air traffic control services at many of the UK’s major airports (13 civil and 7 military airfields) and other airports overseas.
NATS is alive to the opportunities that new airspace users present for airspace in the future and has worked closely with early innovators. Safety is always our number one priority, and we are working with increasing intensity to support the growth of this exciting new industry by safely integrating new users into a sustainable, modernised and fully integrated airspace.
For more information visit the NATS website at www.nats.aero
Skyports Drone Services
Skyports Drone Services is committed to creating positive change by connecting people, businesses and communities to vital supplies and services. The company operates eVTOL drones for cargo drone deliveries, survey and surveillance, and is an expert in the operation of long-range and beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) autonomous flight for a multitude of use cases, including ship-to-shore and maritime applications, medical and dangerous goods deliveries, and AI-driven surveys for the agriculture and infrastructure sectors.
Based in London, United Kingdom, Skyports has projects operating in multiple continents, including in Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, Middle East and North America. Skyports investors include Deutsche Bahn Digital Ventures, Groupe ADP, Irelandia Aviation, Levitate Capital, Solar Ventus, The Goodman Group, Kanematsu Corporation, Ardian, F2i, GreenPoint, and ST Engineering.
Find out more at www.skyportsdroneservices.com
DRONAMICS
Dronamics is the world’s first cargo drone airline. Аs a leading developer and operator of large, long-range drones built specifically for cargo, its flagship Black Swan can carry 350 kg (770 lb) at a distance of up to 2,500 km (1,550 mi) up to 80% faster, 50% cheaper and with up to 60% lower emissions than alternative modes of transport, including airfreight. This proven technology enables same-day shipping over very long distances for a variety of industries: from pharma to food, from e-commerce to spare parts. The company’s fast-growing team includes some of the most experienced aerospace, logistics and technology experts. Dronamics is Europe’s first licensed cargo drone airline and the first one to obtain both IATA and ICAO designator codes.
About AtkinsRéalis
AtkinsRéalis is a world-class engineering services and nuclear company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world's infrastructure and energy systems. We deploy global capabilities locally to our clients and deliver unique end-to-end services across the whole life cycle of an asset including consulting, advisory & environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity, design & engineering, procurement, project & construction management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and capital. The breadth and depth of our capabilities are delivered to clients in strategic sectors such as Engineering Services, Nuclear and Capital. News and information are available at www.atkinsrealis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
Commonplace
The Commonplace citizen engagement platform (https://www.commonplace.is/) is designed to connect people with the places they live, work and play – to accelerate positive change through their collaboration with our customers. We help our customers reach their communities, engage them in conversation, analyse their feedback and collaborate on future ideas to help build trust and transparency. You can view recent Commonplace projects here.
DGP Intelsius
DGP Intelsius are expert designers and manufacturers of environmentally sustainable and regulatory compliant sample transport and temperature-controlled packaging solutions. We have 20 years of experience helping some of the world's biggest pharmaceutical and healthcare organisations achieve excellence in cold chain and sample transport logistics.
We have a global footprint, with offices and suppliers on every continent, meaning we can flex to meet demand as and when it arises. In addition, our expert Technical Team and ISTA-certified laboratory ensure we can design, test and qualify your packaging with your specific payload and shipping lane in mind.
Find out more at: www.intelsius.com
Arup
Dedicated to sustainable development, Arup is a collective of 20,000 designers, advisors and experts working across 140 countries. Founded to strive for humanity and excellence in everything that we do, we collaborate with our clients and partners, using imagination, technology and rigour to shape a better world.
Plane Finder
Plane Finder is a UK designer and manufacturer of high-quality ADS-B/MLAT surveillance hardware and software. Our global surveillance networks, real time data APIs and end user display software are trusted across the aviation industry.
The Drone Office
The Drone Office is a consultancy and services company specializing in drones. We offer clients independent, solution-agnostic expertise. We advocate safe and innovative drone roadmaps. Drones are part of digital transformation. Beyond safety, our objective is to help clients transform disruption into a competitive advantage and value creation. Equally important, we share a vision of technology with a sense of purpose that truly adds value for everyone. https://www.thedroneoffice.com/
About Connected Places CatapultConnected Places Catapult is the UK’s innovation accelerator for cities, transport, and place leadership. We provide impartial ‘innovation as a service’ for public bodies, businesses, and infrastructure providers to catalyse step-change improvements in the way people live, work and travel. We connect businesses and public sector leaders to cutting-edge research to spark innovation and grow new markets. We run technology demonstrators and SME accelerators to scale new solutions that drive growth, spread prosperity, and reduce carbon emissions.cp.catapult.org.uk
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