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Blood bike
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.
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. All Blood Bike groups except North West Blood Bikes Lancs & Lakes are represented through the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes (NABB), itself a registered charity (number 1198195). NABB requires that its members hold advanced rider qualifications.
Commercially run blood bike courier services also exist.
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. In 1969, the Freewheelers youth community action group formed in Stevenage which initially served hospitals in Stevenage, Luton, Dunstable, Bedford, and Hitchin. These original groups are no longer operating, but other groups emerged that provide similar services.
Yeovil Freewheelers was founded in 1978. In 1981, SERV (Service by Emergency Response Volunteers), 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.
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. 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.
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". 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. 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.
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Blood bike
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.
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. All Blood Bike groups except North West Blood Bikes Lancs & Lakes are represented through the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes (NABB), itself a registered charity (number 1198195). NABB requires that its members hold advanced rider qualifications.
Commercially run blood bike courier services also exist.
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. In 1969, the Freewheelers youth community action group formed in Stevenage which initially served hospitals in Stevenage, Luton, Dunstable, Bedford, and Hitchin. These original groups are no longer operating, but other groups emerged that provide similar services.
Yeovil Freewheelers was founded in 1978. In 1981, SERV (Service by Emergency Response Volunteers), 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.
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. 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.
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". 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. 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.