Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a state-of-the-art drone f lying in with my prescription from Boots
BOOTS has become the first chemist in the UK to deliver prescription medicines by drone.
The retailer used the unmanned aircraft to send medicines to a hospital on the Isle of Wight – cutting transport time from four hours to 30 minutes.
The drugs were then collected and transported to Boots pharmacies across the island.
The company said that using drone technology sped up delivery times while being more environmentally friendly compared with traditional transportation to the island, which involves a ferry and road vehicle.
Boots confirmed the first drone flew from the British Army’s Baker Barracks on Thorney Island, near Portsmouth, and arrived at St Mary’s Hospital in Newport on July 4.
This month the NHS announced that it intended to use drones to send chemotherapy drugs to the island as part of a pilot scheme to cut delivery times.
It is hoped that using drone technology will one day enable doctors to make sameday delivery orders for drugs and medical equipment from anywhere in the country.
Boots said it is now assessing the feasibility of using drones for deliveries.
It is working with medical transportation company Apian to facilitate the shipments.
Rich Corbridge, chief information officer at Boots, said: ‘Drones have huge potential in the delivery of medicines and it is incredibly exciting to be the first community pharmacy in the UK to transport them in this way.
‘An island location like the Isle of Wight seemed like a sensible place to start a trial of drones, and their value to the delivery of medicines to more remote locations is very clear.
‘In this trial, we will be looking at how much time we can save, as well as how we can incorporate drones into our medicines supply chain to create economic efficiencies too.
‘We want to prepare now for the wider use of this technology in the future.’
Max Coppin, chief operating officer at Apian, said that not only could drones deliver medicines to hospitals but were ‘faster and more reliable than ground transportation’.
He added: ‘They bring with them additional environmental benefits and offer a more sustainable solution for delivery.’