Blood, sweat ...and cheers
THE BIKERS WHO VOLUNTEER TO SAVE LIVES
YOU will have, no doubt, seen them at some point, perhaps even moved out of the way to let them pass.
Their brightly-liveried bikes with the word BLOOD written in bold across the front are pretty hard to miss. But what you might not know about Blood Bikes Manchester is that every single person involved is a volunteer.
The charity transports urgentlyneeded blood, donor breast milk, vaccines and other medication between hospitals and hospices for free, so that the NHS can put the savings back into what matters the most – patient care.
Steve Deakin, who has been part of Blood Bikes Manchester for four of the seven years it’s been going, said: “If someone is ringing at 2am because they need blood for a hospital, it’s not to top up stocks, it’s because someone needs it and is waiting for it. I’ve had instances in the last few months when I’ve been taking blood to a particular hospital and there has been a nurse waiting outside for me so the blood can be taken and processed straight away for whoever needs it. We never know who the patient is or what their condition is, but in cases like this it is clear they were waiting for it.”
Blood Bikes Manchester offers a free on-demand transfer service for the NHS, hospitals, hospices and human milk bank. It has also recently started working with the organ donation service to transport blood and other samples.
The charity operates 7pm-6am during the week and 24 hours a day at weekends. Its riders aren’t allowed to exceed speed limits or go through red lights. “We restock the air ambulance base daily – collect blood and plasma and take them to Barton, then we take the empty boxes back to Salford Royal,” Steve said. “Occasionally we take part in what’s known as a relay run – we did one recently. It was an urgent job that had to be done from the borders of Scotland down to Bristol, different groups take part and help to transport whatever it was down the country.”
Steve, 53, says each rider operates from home. They use bikes owned by the charity and each rider has an advanced driving qualification. All vehicles are liveried so they stand out without blue emergency lights.
Blood Bikes Manchester has around three dozen riders on its books. There are also many other volunteers – including drivers who take over in bad weather or when road conditions are not safe for the bikes, as well as duty controllers who act as dispatchers.
The charity receives no government funding and runs purely on the generosity of donors.
“We say that riders need to live within 30 minutes of the blood bank
Manchester Blood Bikers on the road and, below, volunteers Vinny Redford, Jim Wilson, Andrew Hughes, Matt Allott, Lisa Allott, Steve Deakin, Rick Clarke, Andrew Brady, Mark Kennedy, Pete Edwards and Stuart Brown in Manchester,” Steve said. “At the moment we have volunteers in the city, as well as Salford, Rochdale, Stockport and Tameside. The rota is all down to the availability of volunteers, but we will have a minimum of two riders and one car at all times.”
Steve said the work is ‘very rewarding.’ He added: “If the Blood Bikes weren’t available then stuff would still be delivered, but there would be a cost associated with it. By using us, money that would otherwise be spent on a courier can be put back into patient care.”