South West Blood Bikes (SWBB) is an entirely volunteer led and run charity that provides an out of hours emergency courier service( Blood Bikes) provided to the NHS & Hospices across the whole county of Devon, and beyond if required.
The volunteers of SWBB transport: Whole Blood, Pathology and Microbiology Samples, Donor Breast Milk, Medical Records and X-Rays, Medical Equipment, Test Kits, and medications - in fact anything that is required urgently by a medical facility, providing it can fit on a motorcycle( we do have some blood cars as well, used by volunteer drivers or in weather where it is not safe to ride the blood bikes). We provide our main service from 1700hrs to 0800hrs weekdays and provide 24-hour cover during weekends and public holidays. We also provide some urgent in hours services that NHS couriers cannot cover, depending on volunteer availability.
Our service is funded entirely by donations from the general public, community groups & businesses, some grant funding and volunteer fundraising.
Blood Bike charities save the NHS and Hospices they serve hundreds of thousands of £’s ever year, as if we were not providing this service, they would be forced to use expensive private couriers or even taxis to do the same job.
Since SWBB began in November 2018, we estimated to have saved the NHS over £500,000 in transportation costs,
We used the £1000 awarded to us to fuel and maintain our blood bikes and blood cars. With the level of our work increasing month on month, our fuel costs in the last 12 months have risen from around £1000 per month to around £1800
By being awarded grants such as these, we are able to continue to provide the free service to the NHS & Hospices in Devon, every penny goes towards keeping SWWB operational.
Our volunteers are very proud of the service they provide and will happily fundraise for the charity, being awarded grants such as theses eases the need for volunteer fundraising slightly, which is beneficial both to the volunteers and the service we provide.
South West Blood Bikes provides a free out of hours courier service to the NHS & Hospices in Devon. We are an entirely volunteer led and operated charity. Our service runs 365 days a year and our main operational hours are evenings, and 24 hour cover on weekends and bank holidays, although recently we have expanded our service to provide some urgent in-hour assistance, depending on volunteer availability. Our volunteers mainly on Blood Bikes, although we do have some Blood cars used by Volunteer Drivers and in inclement weather, transport Blood & other Biological Samples, Whole Blood, Patient Notes, Medical Equipment, Medication and Donor Breast Milk for premature babies.
Our aims are to save lives and improve patient outcomes, whilst at the same time saving the NHS and Hospices money which they can use instead on where it should be used – on patient care. Since our service began in November 2018, we estimate we have saved the NHS & Hospices in Devon over £500,000 in transport costs.
Our service is funded entirely by donations, fundraising and some grants. The grant from the Movement for Good Campaign enabled us to continue providing our free service by helping fuel and maintain our Blood Bikes & Blood Cars, every penny received went towards meeting our aims, and all provided by our fantastic volunteers.
Caroline, Volunteer Fundraiser
You can nominate this charity to win £1,000 with Movement for Good
