Welsh Drone Innovation Partnership Project
The Welsh Medical Drone Delivery network project, 1 of 5 successful projects under the ‘Future Flight Challenge’ funded through UKRI programme - proposes the establishment of a pan-Wales network to improve the resilience and responsiveness of NHS Wales’ medical supply chain. By leveraging automated vertiport technology developed by SLiNK-TECH, the project offers affordable and scalable drone logistics that can integrate with existing medical supply chains. One of the key use case centres around a drone-based crossmatching service, linking North Wales hospitals to the Welsh Blood Service HQ in Talbot Green. This would significantly reduce the lead time on complex cross matches. The partnership also proposes a use case service to restock emergency response vehicles.
Under the Innovate UK-funded SBRI project, the Velindre NHS University Trust Innovation team have led engagement alongside the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust, ensuring that the voices and experiences of those who would benefit from the services are heard. Specifically, this has centered on the facilitation of workshops in North and South Wales, where frontline staff and patient representatives, innovation leads, and policymakers were able to shape the development of drone-based concepts that are appropriate to the context of NHS Wales. These concepts have gone on to form the backbone of the draft business case and operating procedures being crafted by the partners.
NHS Wales serves a mixed landscape including rural and remote populations and is bound by infrastructure that crosses these remote parts of the country. This, paired with historical social inequalities, means that access to healthcare (and therefore health outcomes) can lag behind between much of the rest of the UK. The drone network seeks to frog-leap the barriers imposed by ground-based infrastructure and accelerate the transport of light goods and samples between strategic locations in Wales’ medical network, therefore improving access to timely interventions for patients in Wales on both emergency and elective pathways.
The technology
Industry partner SlinkTech has developed an advanced landing solution, PORTAL, a vertiport air-traffic control system that enables safe, low cost, autonomous drone launch and landing with minimal infrastructure.
Snowdonia Aerospace Centre in Llanbedr have invested in PORTAL, setting up the UK’s first permanent vertiport for drone take-off and landing.
The centre is on the site of a former WWII airbase. While still a functioning airfield, these days the old hangar and runway area have become a test environment for new generation, novel aerospace systems.
SlinkTech demonstrated the PORTAL system with multiple take offs, flights and landings involving up to three drones at a time to show how the automated system could manage the traffic safely.
Director of the Welsh Blood Service, Alan Prosser was at the event and said exploring drone technology is a key innovation project for the service going forward.
“Innovation is absolutely critical for our service to stay at the cutting edge of technological advancements - we have some key challenges ahead and this type of project is both thought provoking and energising in terms of what could be possible for the future.
“Technology is advancing at pace in this area, and we acknowledge that drone capability still needs to mature in terms of carrying capacity and battery payload before this becomes a viable option for our service.
“Having said that, I’m extremely proud to be here alongside the Welsh Ambulance Service for this proof-of-concept study, partnering up to consider new and exciting ways to enhance the services we provide for the people of Wales.”
“I’d like to thank everyone who took part in the workshop at WBS in June, to help us begin shaping our ideas about how we could use drone technology in the future.
“All I can say for now is, watch this space!”
Jennet Holmes, Head of Innovation for the Trust has been integral in moving this project forward.
“In our collective pursuit of innovation across the Trust, we are dedicated to building robust innovation systems infrastructure that enhances our capacity and capability to foster transformative change.
“This project is a thrilling opportunity to elevate Velindre innovation and showcase our collaborative spirit.
“Partnering with industry and NHS organisations and engaging with other stakeholders on this project will help us prepare for the future integration challenges of utilising technological advancements. In doing so, we will be better prepared to leverage technology that has the potential to strengthen supply chain resilience for the NHS.”
The funding
In February 2024 the partnership received Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) for a foundation study into the use of drones, under an initiative aimed at enhancing medical supply chain resilience.
The purpose of the foundation study is to: