NHS Grampian Pilots Drone Guidance for Public Services
New guidelines aim to ensure safe and effective integration of drone technology in healthcare and other public sector operations.
By Ross Galbraith
••3 min read
AI
Generic image of a drone's propellers and landing gear against a blurred background of a hospital exterior.
NHS Grampian, in collaboration with the Scottish Ambulance Service and HITRANS, is developing crucial guidance for the safe and effective use of drones in public services, particularly healthcare.
The NHS Grampian Innovation Hub is spearheading a project to create guidelines for adopting drones in healthcare, working alongside the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) and the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HITRANS). This initiative, supported by the Department for Transport and the Future Flight Social Insight research programme at the University of Birmingham, aims to serve as a blueprint for other public bodies.
The guidance, informed by previous drone trial projects like CAELUS and SATE, will clarify the practical steps needed to ensure new drone systems are safe, secure, and publicly trusted. It seeks to enable public services to embrace this innovation and contribute to the UK's economic benefits from this sector.
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"Flight Path to Trust represents an important step in helping health services understand how emerging drone technologies can be safely, ethically, and effectively embedded into the delivery of high quality healthcare. Our collaborative approach is shaping practical guidance that will support services across the country make informed decisions about future adoption as this technology evolves."
Dr Andy Keen, Clinical Director of Innovation at NHS Grampian, highlighted the potential of drones to save lives and improve patient outcomes by enabling faster access to critical supplies, diagnostics, and specialist support, thereby reducing health inequities. This technology could significantly enhance logistics and emergency care in remote and rural areas, improving connectivity between facilities and supporting the redesign of services.
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"Drone-enabled logistics and emergency support has the potential to support our crews and enhance patient care. Our involvement in the Flight Path to Trust project ensures that frontline operational expertise has been built into the guidance from the outset, helping to ensure it is practical, safe and aligned with real world pre-hospital and emergency response needs."
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"The Flight Path to Trust project has delivered vital insights into how uncrewed aerial systems can be safely and effectively integrated into NHS operations. The work has helped demonstrate how future flight technologies can strengthen healthcare delivery across the HITRANS region. This is an important step toward a more resilient, responsive, and sustainable public‑sector transport ecosystem."
For more information or to share promising emerging healthcare technology for evaluation, interested parties can email gram.innovation-hub@nhs.scot. NHS Grampian’s Innovation Hub, established in 2016, aims to address healthcare challenges by collaborating with patients, colleagues, industry, and academia.
Based on information from the official source: NHS Grampian (11/11/2026)
