Can drones lift healthcare to new levels? 

The market for medical drone deliveries was valued at USD 245.4 million in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 1.9 billion by 2032. This reflects the growing interest in drone technology among healthcare providers and other stakeholders as they follow the success of medical trials and see the benefits.

When we consider drone applications for insurance, the property and casualty sector is usually what springs to mind. For instance, drones can be used for aerial inspections before underwriting a building or assessing a claim after storm damage. However, there are also exciting possibilities in the life and health sector. Insurers could, for example, collaborate with health authorities and technology specialists to harness drone technology and improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of everyday medical support and emergency interventions.

Skyfarer is one of a handful of innovative companies tapping this potential and pioneering medical deliveries using drones. Elliot Parnham, Skyfarer’s founder, sets out the advantages:

“Drones overcome the challenges of remote locations, traffic congestion or other logistical or access issues. Whether delivering prescription medication to patients in isolated communities, taking blood samples to labs for testing or rushing medical equipment to accidents and other emergency sites.

Parnham says that because drones avoid ground-based obstructions and take the most direct route to their destinations, they can make all the difference when lives are at stake.

“Drones conquer distance and increase speed,” he says. “This can significantly reduce delivery times in congested urban environments. Equally, remote destinations become accessible by air, which is particularly beneficial when there is little or no local healthcare in any given hard-to-reach area.”

Parnham adds that as demand for medical deliveries grows, drones offer a scalable solution that avoids expensive infrastructure investment and is more environmentally friendly than alternative ground transport methods. He stresses that working hand in hand with current delivery methods could be a fantastic way to meet increasing logistical demands.

Furthermore, says Parnham, the latest battery technology, such as lithium-polymer and solid-state batteries or even hydrogen fuel cells, is already enabling longer journeys, while improvements in navigation systems, obstacle detection and payload capacity are making drones even more viable for medical deliveries. 

Parnham highlights two Skyfarer trials – one in the United Kingdom and the other in The Gambia –that have demonstrated the value of the technology.

“The Skyfarer and Medical Logistics UK Trial was the first medical delivery trial to use drones in this country in a hub-and-spoke network over land. We established a 32-km drone corridor between two hospitals in Coventry and Rugby, operated by University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, to validate the feasibility of medical drone deliveries, and all test flights were completed without any faults or failures. The long-term objective was to show if drones could alleviate the growing logistical pressures faced by the UK healthcare system, particularly in meeting time-sensitive medical supply and sample delivery demands.”

The trial in The Gambia focused on vaccine delivery and was a collaborative effort with Riders for Health, which provides the healthcare community with transport throughout Africa.

Parnham says every drone journey must involve rigorous monitoring and step-by-step checks before, during and after a flight.

“Airspace safety checks and continuous compliance come first, followed by the order process,” he says. “Hospitals, pharmacies or other healthcare parties place orders through our order management system and are given a time slot. Once the medical supplies have been prepared and packaged in special containers, they are loaded onto a drone and pre-flight checks are completed.”

The flight is automated and tracked with GPS/GNSS navigation, which Parnham says enables the drone to take the most direct route, usually at less than 400 feet to avoid air traffic, and is monitored in real-time by a ground crew.

He says drones return to base after each successful delivery, where they are inspected and serviced in preparation for the next flight, while data collected during the flight is analysed to help with future missions.

“It’s a precise routine with a complex mix of tasks to ensure operational efficiency,” he emphasises. “These detailed checks ensure the safe and timely delivery of critical medical supplies.”

What’s next for medical drone deliveries? Although some regulatory challenges remain – safety being paramount – Parnham is confident that drones have an assured future and will be more widely adopted by healthcare providers. In particular, he says that securing beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) authorisation is a major step forward for Skyfarer, as BVLOS is a requirement for handling deliveries remotely without the presence of an observer.

Timely delivery of medication and medical supplies can mean the difference between life and death, underlines Parnham, and organisations such as Skyfarer play an invaluable role in trialling and evolving drone technology in cooperation with healthcare providers.

As medical use cases grow, life and health insurers will be watching developments with interest and may even sponsor future trials, particularly as improved access to medication and emergency care could reduce claim costs and improve policyholder outcomes.