Blood bike

A blood bike is a motorcycle used to courier urgent and emergency medical items including blood, X-rays, samples, drugs, and documentation between hospitals and other healthcare facilities.[1][2]

A blood bike operated by Freewheelers EVS

In the United Kingdom and Ireland a network of largely independent registered charities, whose members are all unpaid volunteers, provide blood bike courier services in collaboration with their local healthcare authorities. Many are represented through the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes (NABB).[3][4]

Commercial blood bike courier services also exist.[5]

History

The first blood bike volunteer group to be established was the Emergency Volunteer Service (EVS), formed in 1962 in Surrey, England, by Margaret Ryerson and her husband. In 1969, the Freewheelers youth community action group formed in Stevenage which initially served hospitals in Stevenage, Luton, Dunstable, Bedford and Hitchin.[6] These original groups are no longer operating, but other groups emerged that provide similar services.

Yeovil Freewheelers was founded in 1978.[7] In 1981, SERV, which formed shortly after the original EVS disbanded, and the North East Thames Region Emergency Voluntary Service (also known as the EVS) in north east London, were founded. North East Thames Region EVS disbanded in November 1998, but SERV continues to operate as a number of different groups.

The Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes was established in 2008 to promote professional standards across all the member blood bike groups.[8]

As an example of the scale of their operations, in 2010, one group made 2,500 deliveries at a cost of around £25,000, paid for by charitable donations, which according to NABB saved the NHS over £120,000.[6] There are no exact figures for how much blood bikes save the NHS annually, however NABB estimates that it was approximately £1.4m in 2016.[9]

In the August 2018 Budget, the government introduced Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) exemption for blood bikes vehicles, effective from April 2020, "to align the tax treatment of the transportation of blood and medical supplies by the national charity Blood Bikes with other emergency vehicles".[10][11]

In 2019, Warwickshire and Solihull Blood Bikes, which started in 2012, was told that University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust was dispensing with its services, and would be replaced by a commercial contract with QE Facilities Limited, a subsidiary company of Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust.[12]

Queen's Award for Voluntary Service

Several groups have received the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service:

  • 2008 – Freewheelers EVS[13]
  • 2016 – North West Blood Bikes Lancashire & Lakes[14]
  • 2017 – Northumbria Blood Bikes[15]
  • 2017 – SERV Sussex[15]
  • 2018 – Dumfries & Galloway Blood Bikes
  • 2018 – Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire Blood Bikes[16]
  • 2019 – SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire
  • 2019 – Merseyside & Cheshire Blood Bikes

Blood Bike Awareness Day

The first Blood Bike Awareness Day took place on Friday 14 August 2015,[17] with initial one off support provided by O2 and has continued annually since. It is to be held on the Friday closest to 14 August. Reasons for this include it being the mirror to 14 February and St Valentine's day with its association with the heart and thus blood, being summer the news cycle is often devoid of political stories and there is a greater propensity for journalists to fill airtime with such awareness days also compounded by Fridays being shown even more inclined to cover such local news topics.[18]

Blood bike groups

There are a number of blood bike groups operating in the UK and Ireland.[19] These include:

England:

Scotland:

  • ScotsERVS (Scottish Emergency Rider Volunteer Service), who transport non-emergency breast milk.
  • Blood Bikes Scotland

Wales:

  • Blood Bikes Wales

Ireland:

Incidents

Motorcyclists are classified as vulnerable road users as when the casualty and fatality numbers are adjusted to passenger miles covered it is the most dangerous form of transport when compared to walking, cycling and various four wheeled vehicles.[28] With the annual miles covered collectively by all the blood bike charities and the added dangers of journeys at night and in adverse weather, despite advanced rider training, there have been fatal accidents.

On 28 November 2016, Martin Dixon of Bloodrun EVS (Cleveland and North Yorkshire) while on duty was killed in a traffic collision.[29]

On 5 May 2018, Russell Curwen of North West Blood Bikes while on duty was killed in a traffic collision.[30]

gollark: 1000 IQ: 3D print obsidian to fill the corners.
gollark: Just... don't join?
gollark: Moonscript?
gollark: What *language* is that?
gollark: I would recommend using something more lightweight than Electron.

See also

References
  1. "Top award for volunteer couriers". BBC News. 2 June 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  2. LV partners with Adrian Flux on blood bikes scheme
  3. Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes (UK)
  4. Riders deliver vital supplies
  5. Blood couriers launch case challenging self-employed status
  6. Blood bikers: The volunteer motorcyclists who help the NHS
  7. Yeovil Freewheelers
  8. "Who we are". Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  9. The volunteer blood bikers saving lives, NHS time and money
  10. Budget 2018
  11. 'You helped me' note left on Blood Bike at Tesco in Carmarthen
  12. "Charity that provided free blood service to NHS is replaced by private firm in £14,000,000 deal". Metro. 6 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  13. Top award for volunteer couriers
  14. Blood Bikes group given Queen’s Award for voluntary service
  15. "It's Volunteers Week – by Royal Ascent". Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  16. Queen's honour for Shropshire blood bikers - delivering life in the fast lane
  17. "Blood Bike Awareness Day".
  18. "NABB 2017 News Letter" (PDF).
  19. Volunteer Bikers Save Lives by Delivering Blood in Dead of Night
  20. Lions donated cash to Blood Bikes
  21. Quick deliveries from The Severn Freewheelers
  22. "Yorkshire Air Ambulances to carry blood on board". Minster FM. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  23. Blood Bike Leinster
  25. Blood Bikers are a vital link in transporting Blood
  26. Uniroyal Ireland has been named as the support vehicle tyre partner for Blood Bike Leinster
  27. - Blood Bike Leinster featured on RTE Winning Streak
  28. "Reported Road Casualties 2017" (PDF). p. 8.
  29. "Tributes to bloodrun volunteer". The Northern Echo.
  30. "Volunteer Blood Biker Killed in Lancaster Collision". Guardian.
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