Apparently, 12th August is national blood bike day. Who would have thought it?
For any that don’t know, blood bikers (and drivers) transport blood and blood products out of hours to NHS hospitals throughout the UK.
You use either your own bike (as I do) or a marked up bike, as long as you qualify as a rider.
Different counties seem to have different rules.
In Kent we are divided into east and west areas, and are responsible for getting blood from the blood bank in Tooting and transporting it to whatever hospital needs it. Also for transporting blood from one hospital to another as required.
Typically, a rider or driver in the west region will go to Tooting, pick up the blood and transport it to a hospital in their area or to a handover point if it needs to go to one of the hospitals in the eastern region.
In Kent we also keep our air ambulance supplied on a daily basis, and undertake to do any emergency run for a children's hospice, deliver kidney dialysis samples out of hours and even transport breast milk in an emergency.
We are always pretty flexible, and will respond to any emergency. Last month we were asked to help supply water to those people unfortunate enough to be stuck on the M2 or the M20 when the French had all those extra security checks, stranding thousands of motorists who were not able to get into Dover port.
“Out of hours” means nighttime from around 1800 to 0600 every night of the year, plus day shifts from 0600 to 1900 at weekends and Bank Holidays.
You are asked to do a minimum of 2 shifts a month, so nothing too onerous. I typically will do 2 or 3 day shifts on Sundays, a couple of Bank Holidays a year plus a bit of kidney dialysis sample transport on a call out basis as required.
Doing this saves the NHS an absolute fortune, as before blood bikers, they had to pay couriers to do it, and they do not come cheap out of hours, especially when you have to get ones who are licensed to carry hazardous loads, which blood is classified as.
You also get the satisfaction of knowing you are helping to save lives, sometimes quite literally. You tend to know when this is happening, as the hospital staff tend to meet you at the door to get the stuff off your bike as quickly as possible.
The other type of volunteer is that of “Controller.”
A controller is the one who gets the initial calls from the hospitals, and who arranges and co-ordinates the riders and drivers to fulfil the request. This is done from their own homes and on the same shift patterns.
Full training is given to riders/drivers and controllers.
Extra volunteers are always needed. If you think you would like to join in, give your local blood bike group a call or an email, or contact me and I will put you in touch with a group in your county.
For any that don’t know, blood bikers (and drivers) transport blood and blood products out of hours to NHS hospitals throughout the UK.
You use either your own bike (as I do) or a marked up bike, as long as you qualify as a rider.
Different counties seem to have different rules.
In Kent we are divided into east and west areas, and are responsible for getting blood from the blood bank in Tooting and transporting it to whatever hospital needs it. Also for transporting blood from one hospital to another as required.
Typically, a rider or driver in the west region will go to Tooting, pick up the blood and transport it to a hospital in their area or to a handover point if it needs to go to one of the hospitals in the eastern region.
In Kent we also keep our air ambulance supplied on a daily basis, and undertake to do any emergency run for a children's hospice, deliver kidney dialysis samples out of hours and even transport breast milk in an emergency.
We are always pretty flexible, and will respond to any emergency. Last month we were asked to help supply water to those people unfortunate enough to be stuck on the M2 or the M20 when the French had all those extra security checks, stranding thousands of motorists who were not able to get into Dover port.
“Out of hours” means nighttime from around 1800 to 0600 every night of the year, plus day shifts from 0600 to 1900 at weekends and Bank Holidays.
You are asked to do a minimum of 2 shifts a month, so nothing too onerous. I typically will do 2 or 3 day shifts on Sundays, a couple of Bank Holidays a year plus a bit of kidney dialysis sample transport on a call out basis as required.
Doing this saves the NHS an absolute fortune, as before blood bikers, they had to pay couriers to do it, and they do not come cheap out of hours, especially when you have to get ones who are licensed to carry hazardous loads, which blood is classified as.
You also get the satisfaction of knowing you are helping to save lives, sometimes quite literally. You tend to know when this is happening, as the hospital staff tend to meet you at the door to get the stuff off your bike as quickly as possible.
The other type of volunteer is that of “Controller.”
A controller is the one who gets the initial calls from the hospitals, and who arranges and co-ordinates the riders and drivers to fulfil the request. This is done from their own homes and on the same shift patterns.
Full training is given to riders/drivers and controllers.
Extra volunteers are always needed. If you think you would like to join in, give your local blood bike group a call or an email, or contact me and I will put you in touch with a group in your county.
As we are a rural county with three major hospitals (@ Kings Lynn, Norwich, Gt Yarmouth) most of our runs were up and down to Cambridge Hospital which had a large blood bank. But as Tom has said we also moved about biopsy samples to labs for testing and sometimes frozen expressed breast milk for Neonatal baby units.