Drones to Deliver Medical Supplies to Dublin Hospitals

Drone-based medical-logistics provider Apian and drone-delivery company Wing Aviation have teamed to test a program to deliver medical supplies to South Dublin hospitals.

The trial, which started this month and will last three to six months, will initially bring Medtronic’s ingestible camera, PillCam, as well as sutures, surgical tools and heart-valve repair products, to Dublin’s Blackrock Clinic and St. Vincent’s Private Hospital. Future deliveries will expand to pacemakers and implantable cardiac defibrillators.

The program will operate Monday through Friday and make up to 20 flights per day between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Flights will only take place during daylight, so there may be fewer made during the winter.

“The use of drones in medical logistics presents an exciting opportunity to get our life-saving technologies to the people who need them quicker than ever before,” said Kristian Howells, Group Commercial Director at Medtronic, which is also participating in the trial. “Traditional supply chains have limitations that the inclusion of drones may help to overcome. What we learn from this pilot program will help us to create more resilient supply chains that are patient focused.”

Apian, which bills itself as an application programming interface (API) that connects health care systems with drone operators, is using Wing’s delivery drones, which have made more than 350,000 commercial deliveries across three continents. The drones have 12 hover propellers for vertical takeoff and landing and four propellers mounted to a pair of fixed wings, which allow it to fly like an airplane. The aircraft can travel up to 12 miles at 65 mph.

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The drones will be loaded at and take off from Apian’s base location in the Dundrum suburb of Dublin. Flights to the hospitals will take about three minutes, compared to 15 to 30 by road, depending on traffic, Apian said.

“St Vincent’s Healthcare Group is continuously harnessing advances in science and research to provide innovative treatment and care to our patients,” St. Vincent’s Private Hospital CEO Brian Fitzgerald said. “Participating in this trial continues this tradition and allows St. Vincent’s Private Hospital to explore how integrating drone technology into our hospital can improve patient care, enhance supply chain management and enable us to operate more efficiently and sustainably.”

The Dublin trial follows Apian’s previous program in the United Kingdom’s Northumberland County, where the company partnered with another drone-delivery firm, Zipline, and the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, to deliver pharmaceuticals, blood, vaccines and other medical consumables to area hospitals and healthcare facilities.  

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Apian also partnered with the U.K.’s National Health Service to deliver chemotherapy treatments to patients in the Isle of Wight in 2022.

“Wing is pleased to support a global leader in healthcare technology and two innovative hospitals to meet their needs for a more efficient delivery service for essential technology,” Nicole Schone, Wing’s head of marketing and communications, said. “We’re excited to be part of Ireland’s forward-looking healthcare technology market and to expand our existing portfolio of retail and medical deliveries around the world.”