Planning application submitted for NHS delivery drone launch site in Northumberland

The proposal, for a site near Seghill, will create a base for drones providing an on-demand delivery service for prescriptions, blood products and other frequently needed medical supplies.

Drones “with a high level of automation” will launch and land at the site, dropping payloads by parachute at designated delivery areas at Wansbeck General Hospital, Hexham General Hospital, and other regional health facilities.

The partnership between logistics firm Apian and drone firm Zipline to deliver supplies to Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust was announced last year.

A statement submitted with the planning application said: “Ultimately this project will allow the NHS to reduce the number of cancelled procedures, decrease wait times, improve patient health outcomes, simplify supply chain complexities, and save costs.

“It will streamline processes for the NHS’ supply chain, centralise inventory, and facilitate on-demand delivery.

“This approach is anticipated to yield savings by improving efficiency and reducing the reliance on expensive last-minute logistics to move products between health facilities when needed.”

According to planning documents, there will be up to 80 flights a day taking off from the hub, and as many as 27 destinations including hospitals, GP surgeries, care homes, pharmacies and other logistics hubs could be served.

Operating the hub will create “a handful” of jobs, which Zipline said it will hire for locally.

The hub contains a launcher, which accelerates the aircraft to 100km per hour for takeoff, and a cable for catching the drones when they return.

The company claims its aircraft are “often so quiet in the sky that people don’t notice them” and that deliveries are “quieter than passing cars.”

Planning documents said: “Zipline has years of experience working with civil aviation authorities around the world to ensure a safe service.

“The company has completed more than 900,000 drone deliveries to customers and flown more than 100 million kilometres without a single major safety incident.

“The UK Civil Aviation Authority will regulate Zipline’s activity in the country and ensure Zipline goes through a very thorough risk assessment and meets regulatory requirements.

“Zipline is also coordinating closely with Apian and Newcastle Airport throughout the company’s operations.”

In a letter in support of the planning application, Northumbria Healthcare’s director of innovation Andrew Edmunds said: “We operate in one of England’s most complex health and geographic contexts with significant health inequality, frailty and deprivation across a rural population.

“Reliable and timely logistics are critical in delivering a safe and effective service for both patients and staff, and the planning submission being made is central to the success of this ambition.

“The goal of trialling UAVs in these clinical settings is to drive transformation for these logistics services.

“Our ambition is that as this project scales, it will lead to improved care for our patients, aid our efforts to tackle the backlog of care caused by the pandemic, as well as help centralise products to drive efficiency in our supply chain.”