Drone trial cuts NHS delivery time by four hours: 6 need-to-know business stories

Hello and welcome to our daily digest of business, financial and economic news from around Scotland.
1. Drones have successfully delivered NHS laboratory specimens for the first time in Scotland.
The Caelus project has run a three-week trial of flights between the Edinburgh Bioquarter and the Borders General Hospital in Melrose.
Materials used to inform clinical decisions are usually transported by road, which can take up to five hours between NHS Borders and NHS Lothian. Using drones can cut the time to 35 minutes and the team believes that drones could be used more widely in rural areas.
AGS Airports, which owns Glasgow and Aberdeen airports, has led the project along with NHS Scotland. Other partners involved in the consortium include the University of Strathclyde, Skyports Drone Services and NATS.
Fiona Smith, director for the Caelus project, said: “Transporting laboratory specimens by drone could speed up the clinical decision making allowing for same-day diagnosis and treatment. This is an important milestone for our project and we now look forward to testing more potential use cases by drone across Scotland in the coming months.”
Hazel Dempsey, the NHS Scotland project leader for Caelus, said: “The NHS is reliant on van logistics that have provided valuable service for decades. However, these can take time, travelling hundreds of road miles each day.”
2. One of the North Sea’s largest gas producing areas could have its life extended after its operators secured new acreage.
The Greater Laggan Area, which lies in waters to the west of Shetland, first began production in 2016 and already has four fields within it.
Kistos Energy said that seven new blocks had been allocated as part of Britain’s 33rd offshore licensing round.
TotalEnergies is the operator of the area with Viaro and Ineos also having stakes. In June TotalEnergies signed a deal with Prax Energy to sell its upstream assets.
Kistos said the new acreage was part of efforts from the joint venture partners to “extend the life of existing infrastructure and maximise economic output” from the area.
3. A removals firm has expanded its presence across the central belt after acquiring a rival.
Sterling Sinclair Removals Group has bought Glen Transport, based in Tillicoultry, in a six-figure deal.
Neil Sinclair, the SSR managing director and a former Scotland under-20 rugby player, said: “When this opportunity arose, it was too good to ignore. I am delighted to have completed the acquisition as it now gives us a strong presence in Clackmannanshire as well as Falkirk, Stirling, Edinburgh and Glasgow.”
The deal takes staff numbers at Sterling Sinclair to 30 and brings its fleet to 22 vehicles.
4. The Scottish cryptocurrency and software firm Zumo has underlined its ambitions in the Middle East by signing the Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Declaration.
The voluntary initiative, launched in 2019, aims to commit its members to making a more environmentally friendly financial services industry.
The Edinburgh-based Zumo was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Crypto Sustainability Coalition looking at how blockchain tools can be used for climate actions. Zumo then built its Oxygen product which helps financial institutions to measure, mitigate and report what carbon impact their digital activities have.
5. An estate agency and conveyancing firm has expanded into Edinburgh shortly after announcing a sponsorship deal with Hibernian FC.
Garden Stirling Burnet has traditionally operated across East Lothian and has four sites in the county.
Tony O’Malley, the managing director, said the firm initially plans to focus on property in the east of the capital after moving into premises in Leith. He said: “This is a competitive market but it’s one that we feel can benefit from a more personable, cost-effective and results-driven service.”
6. Media groups have raised concerns about Scottish government plans to stop non-essential advertising spending as part of emergency cost cutting measures.
The trade publication The Drum said that a number of firms have been informally told to stop working on several public sector projects and campaigns.
Official data shows that £6.2 million was spent on advertising in the 2022-23 financial year with much of it going on health related areas.
Richard Marsham, the managing partner at Leith, said the decision from Holyrood was “very disappointing”.