Work is continuing on the scheme to use drones to supply medicines to the Isle of Wight.
Funded by the Department of Transport, and part of Solent Transport’s Future Transport Zone (FTZ), a £8 million programme has been started to see if transporting items by drones could be rolled out further in the future.
In May last year, in response to the Covid pandemic, a successful trial took place to transport medical supplies and PPE to the Island from Southampton, via a drone designed by the University of Southampton.
Further trials are planned for April and May this year.
The Solent Transport Joint Committee meeting heard yesterday (Thursday), a report said the specification and programme is currently being revised, following discussions with local authorities and lessons learnt from the trials.
Conrad Haigh, Solent transport manager, said it was really important they get the drone scheme right as there was a lot of advantages to people around the Solent if it could be made to work.
He said the Island would benefit most from the drone trials as the Isle of Wight NHS Trust worked in partnership with trusts in Portsmouth and Southampton to provide medical treatments.
The drones could improve the movement of time-sensitive medicines, like cancer treatments, which have to be mixed and delivered to patients within five hours, or diagnostics, by taking specimens to and from the hospitals.
Mr Haigh said: “This may have a significant effect on someone’s quality of life and health benefits.”
The work is moving at a very fast pace, Mr Haigh said, but it is speculative as they are ‘treading on ground no one has ever trod’ and there is a lot of interest in making it work, however, there had been some very positive results.
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