Matternet adds Great Ormond Street Hospital to its NHS drone delivery network in London

TLDR

• Matternet has begun flying urgent paediatric pathology samples for Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, working with Apian.¹
• The service first links the hospital to nearby labs run by The Doctors Laboratory, with more sites planned.¹
• Matternet says drones cut urgent sample delivery times by up to 90%.¹

Matternet, the US drone logistics company, announced on 20 October that it has begun flying for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, carrying urgent pathology samples with its partner Apian.¹ The service initially connects the hospital with nearby labs run by The Doctors Laboratory, and the release says more sites are planned.¹ The release gives no flight path or distances.¹

Matternet says the drones cut urgent delivery times by up to 90%, and DroneLife reports the comparison is against current methods and notes that lab processing time also affects total turnaround.¹² Dr Kimberly Gilmour of the hospital is quoted in the release saying clinicians "shouldn't have to wait on London traffic for answers."¹ The release says Matternet holds operational approvals from the UK Civil Aviation Authority for its London NHS network, and DroneLife says the companies report the existing network has moved thousands of patient samples.¹²

DroneLife notes that Matternet announced its M3 platform in September 2026 with commercial operations targeted for the second half of 2027, but says Matternet has not named M3 as the aircraft serving the hospital.²

Why it matters: this puts a drone sample route into a specialist children's hospital in central London, but the speed figure is Matternet's own claim, no route length is given, and both sources trace to the same company announcement.