Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost savings that the use of drone technology could deliver to the healthcare sector.

The Government is committed to innovation in drones and other growth sectors, and work is ongoing across the Government, including between the Department and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), to support the safe and effective introduction of drones into medical logistics. Further information on the work ongoing across the Government is available on the GOV.UK website, in an online only format.

The Department continuously reviews the available evidence surrounding the use of drones in medical logistics and is supportive of new trials to further build this evidence base, in particular regarding the benefits of the use of drones to deliver urgent medical supplies in remote and urban areas.

The Future of Flight Programme, led by the Department for Transport and taking place across the Government, will deliver routine Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone use in the United Kingdom by 2027. As part of this programme the Department for Transport, the Department for Health and Social Care, and the CAA continue to work closely together to unlock BVLOS drone use cases for the National Health Service. Enabling drones to safely operate to trial NHS services currently requires airspace segregation to ensure the safety of other crewed aircraft. This is a complex process, and the CAA and the Department for Transport are working to simplify it as part of the Future of Flight Programme and the Airspace Modernisation Strategy while we work towards full airspace integration. Progress on this work is monitored through the Future of Flight Industry Group which is co-chaired by the Minister for Aviation, Maritime and Security.

The Department of Health and Social Care has not conducted a formal cost-effectiveness assessment of drone versus traditional delivery methods. Outside of trials, drones are not currently integrated into NHS logistics or emergency response frameworks.