Milestone for vital blood bikes group
Members of the Leicestershire and Rutland Blood Bikes are celebrating the organisation’s 10th anniversary this month.
The group was created in 2014 by Ian Helm, Richard Collyer, Ebrahim Ahmed and Oliver Cufflin, with guidance and support from the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes, to provide a 'free out of hours' service to the Leicestershire and Rutland NHS, delivering blood and blood samples.
From its inception, the group established service level agreements with local hospital pathology departments and officially began its service in 2016.
Since those early days, the service has been extended to include support for maternity, the community hospitals, collection of donated human milk and daily deliveries of blood to the air ambulance.
It is a not-for-profit charity and is fully self-funding to cover the cost of operations of around £45,000 per annum.
The group has grown steadily in number, to its current 90 volunteers.
Unpaid volunteers provide their time and support to cover weekly night shifts, 24-hour cover at weekends and public holidays, as well as the all important fundraising events.
Jonathan Bostock, a volunteer and trustee for Leicestershire and Rutland Blood Bikes, said: “We are incredibly proud to have never missed a request for help in the 10 years of operations, with requests having increased year on year, to 2,500 in 2023.
“We would also like to say thank you to the NHS hospital teams, air ambulance, Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service, East Midlands Ambulance and, of course, to our incredible team of volunteers for an amazing 10 years of partnership and service.”
Click HERE for more information on the charity.