From 'laughing' to 'demand': The funding wait holding up Scotland's revolutionary medical drone trials

But decisions on future funding and approval for large-scale drone operations are awaited following the successful completion of a series of ground-breaking trials across the country.

Project Caelus has seen medical supplies and samples transported by drone to Arran and the Borders, chemotherapy treatments delivered to Moray and even defibrillators sent to simulate assisting people suffering a cardiac arrest in remote locations.

The most comprehensive pilot scheme in the UK is named after the mythological god of the sky and stands for Care & Equity – healthcare Logistics Uncrewed aircraft systems Scotland.

It has received £8.5 million from the UK Research and Innovation Future Flight Challenge Fund, but future funding has still to be decided.

The project has proved medical deliveries can be made far quicker and more cheaply than by other forms of transport, while also averting patients having to make lengthy and costly journeys to treatment centres, especially when they are feeling unwell.

The project was established five years ago by the University of Strathclyde and Glasgow Airport owner AGS and has become the first innovation project to involve the whole of the NHS in Scotland.

The first flights were over six miles between two major hospitals in Glasgow two years ago.

However, Dr Jamie Hogg, the project’s clinical lead for NHS Grampian, said when he initially gauged potential interest in using drones among health boards in the north of Scotland, he was met with a sceptical response.

He told a conference on the project at Glasgow Science Centre on Thursday: “I just got people laughing at the end of the phone and saying it was never going to work.”

Dr Hogg said they became convinced after seeing the project’s later trials between hospitals in Kilmarnock and Arran last year.

He said: “There’s nothing like something really happening to persuade people that this is worth putting effort into. The whole of the NHS in Scotland has come together in a very collaborative manner.

“What has been really inspiring is there has been a mind shift across the NHS from laughing at the idea to asking when will this be a reality.”

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Drone flights have also connected the Edinburgh BioQuarter near the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh with Borders General Hospital in Melrose, with chemotherapy treatments being flown between hospitals in Aberdeen and Elgin in Moray.

The Scottish Ambulance Service has also sent defibrillators by drone to simulated cardiac arrest incidents to see how participants respond to being instructed by phone or video link on how to use them.

Karen Bell, Project Caelus’ national programme manager, said: “Seeing is believing. We’ve now shown our NHS colleagues that this can happen.

“They’ve seen the drones fly between their health boards, and across the Clyde to Arran, and they now want this. Colleagues have been asking when are the drones arriving in their area?

“There is a demand, there is a need for it. We are going to improve the way we deliver healthcare for our populations and for the carers that support them. This is going to be an exciting tool to help us do that.”

Hazel Dempsey, the NHS lead from the project, said it dovetailed with the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government priority areas of growing the economy, tackling the climate emergency and ensuring high-quality and sustainable public services.

She said the NHS previously had to rely on couriers, taxis or scheduled ferries and flights to transport urgent supplies, while patients sometimes had to travel significant distances for treatment.

Ms Dempsey said; “Making a 150-mile round trip to Aberdeen for chemotherapy, if you’re not feeling well is not ideal. In addition, faster diagnostic testing [thanks to drones] means treatment can start sooner, and at home rather than hospital.”

Simon Smith, of airspace consultants Trax, told the conference: “We have proven the transport by drone of medical products between laboratories within Scotland and that can be rolled out across the whole UK, is the way ahead.”

Business minister Richard Lochhead said: “The trials have been fantastic, but we have to do what we can to take them to the next stage and make the most of these opportunities.”

UK aviation minister Mike Kane was also supportive, describing the project as “hugely successful”. He said it was “paving the way for a revolution in healthcare access” and could “slash delivery times of vital medicines, blood and supplies”.

“It could improve health outcomes in remote rural communities, not just in Scotland, but right across the UK,” he said.

Tom Levermore, a senior systems engineer for innovation body Connected Places Catapult, also speaking at the conference, said: “This is just scratching the surface. There’s a huge range of benefits that are still untapped and unquantified.

“The drone service is expected to roll out from something small scale to ultimately a comprehensive national service for all of Scotland.”

However, further progress awaits more funding and airspace approval.

Caelus project director Fiona Smith told The Scotsman: “The project has been concluded, but further trials are required as we are not yet at the scale we would like. The ability to fly the drones was granted only temporarily.”

She hoped increasing the volume of drone flights would boost confidence in their safety.

Ms Smith, who is also AGS Airports’ director of sustainability, said: "We look forward to continuing the legacy of the project by ongoing initiatives with our project partners.”

A project source added: “The next steps in terms of the Future Flight Fund are uncertain for the moment, but hopefully things will be clearer later this year.”

The Civil Aviation Authority said it needed to be satisfied with the safety of the operation, including how drones would share airspace with other aircraft, and protecting people on the ground.

Its spokesperson said: “We should also have more information on this available in the next few weeks, as we’re currently working on ways to streamline the process.”