Blood bike
Emergency medical courier vehicle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A blood bike is a specialist motorcycle modified for use as a courier vehicle for the prompt transportation of urgent and emergency medical items; primarily blood, but also including X-rays, tissue samples, surgical tools, human milk, spinal fluids, drugs, and documentation; between hospitals and other healthcare facilities.[1][2][3]
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), itself a registered charity (number 1198195).[4][5][6] NABB requires that its members hold advanced rider qualifications.[2][6]
Commercially run blood bike courier services also exist.[7]
History
The first blood bike volunteer group to be established in the United Kingdom was the Emergency Volunteer Service (EVS), formed in 1962 in Surrey, England, by Margaret Ryerson and her husband.[2] In 1969, the Freewheelers youth community action group formed in Stevenage which initially served hospitals in Stevenage, Luton, Dunstable, Bedford, and Hitchin.[2] These original groups are no longer operating, but other groups emerged that provide similar services.
Yeovil Freewheelers was founded in 1978.[8] In 1981, SERV (Service by Emergency Response Volunteers),[2] 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.[citation needed]
The Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes was established in 2008 to promote professional standards across all the member blood bike groups.[9]
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.[2] There are no exact figures for how much blood bikes save the NHS annually, however NABB estimates that it was approximately £1.4 million in 2016 from its 56,000 blood bike journeys.[3][10]
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".[11][12] However, blood bikes cannot use blue lights and sirens, unlike the three statutory emergency services as NABB's application to use them has been rejected.[13] That status was re-emphasised by the Secretary of State for Transport in 2023, following the death of a blood bike rider while using blue lights.[13]
Blood bike groups
There are a number of blood bike groups operating in the UK and Ireland.[14] These include:
England
Blood bike charities in England include:
- Freewheelers EVS[15] – Bath, Bristol, Gloucestershire (south), Somerset, West Wiltshire
- Greater Manchester Blood Bikes[16][17] – Greater Manchester
- Nottinghamshire Blood Bikes – Nottinghamshire
- SERV – various areas
- Severn Freewheelers[18] – Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, North Wiltshire, Worcestershire
- Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes[19] – Yorkshire
In 2019, Warwickshire and Solihull Blood Bikes, which was established 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, a subsidiary company of Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust.[20]
Scotland
Wales
Ireland
Awards
Several groups in the United Kingdom have received The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, which is equivalent in status as an MBE:[1]
| year of award | blood bike group | ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Freewheelers EVS | [1] |
| 2016 | North West Blood Bikes Lancashire & Lakes | [30] |
| 2017 | Northumbria Blood Bikes | [31] |
| 2017 | SERV Sussex | [31] |
| 2018 | Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire Blood Bikes | [32] |
| 2019 | SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire | [33] |
| 2020 | SERV Surrey and London | [34] |
| 2020 | SERV Kent | [35] |
| 2021 | Blood Bikes Wales | [36][37] |
Blood Bike Awareness Day
The first Blood Bike Awareness Day took place on Friday 14 August 2015,[38] with initial support provided by O2 and has continued annually since. It is to be held on the second Friday of August 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.[39]
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 motor vehicles.[40] Four blood bike riders have been involved in killed or seriously injured (KSI) accidents:
- 28 November 2016 – Martin Dixon of Bloodrun EVS (Cleveland and North Yorkshire) was killed while on duty in a traffic collision in Hartlepool.[41]
- 5 May 2018 – Russell Curwen of North West Blood Bikes was killed while on duty in a traffic collision in Lancaster, Lancashire.[42] In 2019, a laboratory at Royal Lancaster Infirmary run by University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust was named in Curwen's memory as The Russell Curwen Pathology Laboratory.[43] In 2023, following questions asked at Curwen's inquest, it was revealed that he had been using blue lights and sirens at the time of the accident, which had been illegally-fitted by the charity.[13][44]
- 29 September 2023 – a Norfolk Blood Bikes rider was seriously injured when his motorcycle, which was stopped in traffic, was struck from behind by a young car driver who was distracted by his dropped keys.[45]
- 2 July 2025 – Timothy Minett of Blood Bikes Wales was killed when his motorcycle was involved in a collision with a van on the A478 road in Pembrokeshire.[46]
See also
- Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
- National Health Service
- NHS Blood And Transplant
- Emergency medical services in Ireland
