DRONES COULD SOON FLY NHS SUPPLIES AND FOOD FROM FAWLEY TO COWES

NHS supplies and food parcels could soon be whizzing across the Solent to a drone port in Cowes, if a 6-month pilot scheme gets the go ahead.  In collaboration with Vodafone, Inteliports and the Isle of Wight Council are exploring the possibility of establishing ‘airbridges’, facilitating expedited, cost-effective and environmentally friendly logistics connections to and from the Island for medical and commercial deliveries. The initiative – funded by the Department for Transport – would aim to cultivate an atmosphere of innovation on the Island, propelling the UK towards its net-zero goals, all the while showcasing a first-of-its-kind, commercial drone network. It has been revealed that a large, 8-prop drone is set to transport medicine from a distribution hub in Fawley – just across the water in the New Forest – to Mornington Road car park off the Esplanade at Cowes, a distance of around 4 miles. It’s at the car park that a shipping container would be situated, acting as a landing pad.

As well as transporting supplies for the NHS, food will be flown at 400ft across the Solent to demonstrate future uses for the commercial service – a proof of concept. The parcels will then be taken on their ‘last mile’ delivery via electric cargo bike. It’s currently hoped that 5 round trips a day can be completed and, if all goes to plan, the first flight could take place later in 2024. It comes after more than 12 months of planning between Inteliports and the local authority. It was in May 2020 that Island Echo recorded history when, for the first time, an unmanned aerial vehicle landed on the Isle of Wight having crossed the Solent from Thorney Island. The idea was that NHS supplies could be flown between the mainland and Binstead, then transported to the hospital by road – but the concept never got off the ground. In March 2021, it was revealed that chemotherapy drugs would be flown from the helipad at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth directly to the helipad at St Mary’s Hospital in Newport. It was hoped that the vital drugs could be flown from hospital to hospital in just 32 minutes, reducing the journey time from around 4 hours. However, much like the 2020 UAV trials, nothing seems to have come of the project. In September 2021, Island Echo reported that a 3-month trial would take place but it’s unclear if this actually proceeded. Nothing more has been heard about the trial more than 2-and-a-half years later. Consultations on these latest plans are set to be held in the coming weeks and months, helping to shape the final scheme.