Blood Bike Volunteers

It is only small 'p' political - we have a long tradition of charitable activity in the UK that sits alongside State provision. GMU Raffle?
If you look at old age care homes all are outside the NHS. Taken on average the worst reported on are Local Authority run then the commercial big providers with charitable and not for profit among the best. Ethos matters......

 

Only prseed once! Got error messages honest

 

If I understand correctly, all blood bike groups have been allowed to reclaim ALL of the VAT charged to them for services / sales since the last budget and one of the groups was recognised recently as a reflection on all of the groups involved.

http://www.nwbb-lancs.org/blog/post.php?s=2016-06-02-queens-award-for-voluntary-service

Just reporting what crosses my news feed

 

Bossy!

 

Missus must have told him he's in charge till she gets back .........

An mines out for the day ........ Woooo hooooo

 

As well as blood bike volunteers, you could also ask why the R.N.L.I. and air ambulances are run as charities. No doubt there are others as well!
Probably for the best though - if governments started getting involved they would all go tits up!

 

Can't fault your logic, Mick.

Anyone??

 

Probably like most involved I have had times when without medical intervention I either wouldn't be here now or would not be as well off both mentally ( waits for smart comments from DD ) and physically and with a hospital system here in Ireland that is struggling to cope with government cutbacks etc. its my chance to give a little back whilst doing something I have enjoyed for a long time.
Many of the runs covered here were done by taxi's and courier co's charging big money for a service that we provided FOC running on donations from the public, This does however leave quite a sizeable amount of money to be used for other sevices within the hospitals.

 

We use the blood bike service quite a lot, as mentioned above... it's more than the old blood-runners critical life saving work, they have become an invaluable resource for simple courier work between hospitals that 1) save a helluva packet for the Trust, and 2) ensure timely receipt of essential equipment/notes/pathology specimens etc.
Top blokes, the ones I have spoken too!

 

Ok, tell me, the guy's bike in the video is all liveried up and it obviously kept at his home. Is that donated to him or passed around regular riders. Volunteers. Most would use their own bikes I assume? Also if you've got an official bike like that with blue lights etc do you not have to do a special riding/driving course?
I am being inquisitive here not knocking anything, I have great respect for anyone volunteering for these essential services.

 

Cant say for sure as all the groups here in Ireland run their own systems, but as a general rule Liveried Bikes are Fleet Bikes ie shared by on-call riders and kept at home during on call periods to reduce call out times.

Many riders elect to use their own bikes for convenience and its what they are more comfortable with, plus their group may not have enough dedicated fleet bikes to go around, when you consider the down times needed for maintenance etc.

As far as I am aware there is no "legal requirement" for special training re Blues & two's, but there is an on-going debate about this and the costs incurred and the duty of care required of the charity running the bikes.

Bear in mind that I haven't been on a Blood Bike in 12 months for various reasons and may not be up to date with all the latest info.

 

PS:
The "right" to fit blues etc is provided for in the relevant legislation for the transport / delivery of blood & tissues products.

However that gives no special rights as to speed or road traffic law and we are required to adhere to all relevant regulations same as everyone else ......

 

Thanks for your replies, @Oldyam

 

Ask away if you want more info you're welcome, I'll tell you what I can.

I must be honest I did some extended shifts from time to time too, and being out on the bike for 7+ hours, but the feel good factor is like nothing else I have ever known !

 

Late to the party but I am an active rider for one of the larger blood bike groups; we only use fully liveried service bikes but a number of groups as suggested run a different model whereby riders use their own bikes. Happy to answer any questions...

 

@littleade part of the thing with riders providing their own fuel is more likely to be to do with Insurance constraints, as most insurance co's that will cover BB work on your std policy FOC will only do so if it is charity work and there is no remuneration whatsoever.

 

Typically in the UK there are two 'models' of blood bike groups, Freewheelers and Serv. Groups based on the Freewheeler model typically use fully serviced fleet bikes with all expenses paid so the rider simply rides (as well as being involved in other aspects such as fundraising); Serv groups on the other hand often use a combination of a small number of fleet bikes and a larger compliment of riders using their own bikes, often with the riders paying for fuel and associated running costs themselves. As far as I know, this isn't anything to do with insurance constraints but purely the model of the group, most of the main UK insurers now cover business use for charity so long as you are not being 'paid' for your time, reasonable running costs fall outside of this. Of course, there are other variations but the Freewheeler and Serv models are the most common.

 

Thanks for correcting that @mikesouthby as it was Adelaide / Cornmarket that put that restriction on here ( the only ones who will cover personal bike use for BB work ), maybe they changed it for the irish market, most BB groups here are covered by CN.