NHS to test using drones to fly chemotherapy drugs to Isle of Wight

The NHS plans to use drones to fly chemotherapy drugs to cancer patients in England to avoid the need for long journeys to collect them. The devices will transport doses from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight in a trial that, if successful, will lead to drones being used for similar drops elsewhere. They will take 30 minutes to travel across the Solent, which will save patients on the island a three to four-hour round trip by ferry or hovercraft. On Tuesday, Amanda Pritchard, NHS England's chief executive, unveiled the move to help mark the 74th anniversary of the health service's creation by the postwar Labour government. "Delivering chemo by drone is another extraordinary development for cancer patients and shows how the NHS will stop at nothing to ensure people get the treatment they need as promptly as possible, while also cutting costs and carbon emissions," she said.