Shropshire blood bikers providing vital NHS service
They are bikers – but not as you know them. For these Shropshire motorcycle enthusiasts are blood bikers – and their mission is to carry the gift of life to those in need.
From today, the Shropshire and Staffordshire Blood Bikes will become a familiar sight on the region's roads.
Blood Bikes is a new emergency volunteer service for the out-of-hours delivery of blood and other medical items, such as breast milk for premature babies and microbiological samples, using specially-equipped motorbikes.
It operates 24/7, providing emergency transport every night, at weekends and over bank holidays. It is funded by donations and is free of charge to the NHS.
Chris Powdrill is chairman of the service and a qualified SSBB rider. The 71-year-old from Market Drayton says: "Blood Bikes sprouted up on the south coast and in the Home Counties. It has gradually spread over the years and Shropshire and Staffordshire are one of the last to get a group formed.
"It started in June last year when a meeting was first held in Telford. From then we have grown in number. At the moment we have around 50 members and they come from all walks of life. Some, like myself, are retired and there are some in full-time employment who are giving up their spare time.
"They are mostly motivated by wanting to put something back into the community.
"It is not that we want to ride bikes all over the place, although we do enjoy riding bikes, it is more that something has touched us along the way and we want to give something back to the community.
"A friend of mine who was a biker suffered a stroke and was airlifted by the air ambulance to hospital but unfortunately he did not survive the stroke.
"That motivated me to see if there was something that I could put back into the community. So when the opportunity came to form a Blood Bikes group I held my hand halfway up and the guys that were around me shoved it all the way up and I became chairman!
"That is how we formed. We have got tremendous enthusiasm but what we haven't really done yet is tell the public about it."
Mr Powdrill added: "All of the manpower in the organisation is voluntary and our greatest need at the moment is to get a steady stream of income that will cover the running costs for the equipment that we use, the bikes, the clothing, even the protective covers for the boxes.
"That enables us to deliver the service free of charge to the NHS. That is the key aim of the group."
When they receive a call, the blood bikers aim to be on site within 45 minutes – whether it is at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, the Princess Royal In Telford, the Orthopaedic in Gobowen, near Oswestry, or the University Hospital North Staffs.
"We will then pick up whatever has got to be moved and take it to the destination point," says Mr Powdrill.
The service will save the NHS up to £300 a trip as it will do away with the need for hospitals to use commercial couriers and even taxis out of hours. Mr Powdrill, who has been biking since he was 16-years-old, says: "Anything that you can do to help the NHS at the moment is actually helping your own community."
At present the Shropshire and Staffordshire Blood Bikes has two bikes but the aim is to raise enough money to eventually have six.
The service works on a rota. The controller takes the call and notifies the duty rider who is on call between 7pm until 6am.
They will be dealing with time sensitive medical items but Mr Powdrill says members of the public won't see blood bikers whizzing past them on roads and motorways at high speed.
"Because of the mobility of the bike and the ability to accelerate and manoeuvre through traffic, it means we can get there quicker than a taxi and we don't need to go above the speed limit," he says.
All volunteer riders have passed an Advanced Motorcycle Test and are all independently assessed by an ex-police motorcycle instructor before being qualified to ride for the Blood Bikes service.
Another blood biker is ex-Staffordshire policeman Ben Wilkes, 58, of Rugeley. He spent many of his policing years in the Lichfield and Burton areas.
"I got into motorcycling when I was offered the opportunity to become village policeman in Alrewas and the first thing they said was 'can you ride a motorbike?' I said I had never been on one in my life so they sent me on a motorbike course. We had three days in the classroom and getting used to how to use a motorbike.
"The day after we finished the course, I went and bought my first motorbike. It just grew from that. I got involved in motorcycling and motorcycle instructing in an off-duty capacity, joined clubs and toured all over Europe. Then as my service career changed, I decided to go on traffic and ended up as a grade one car and motorcyclist."
He added: "Because of the skills I have learned from the police I hope that will be of use to the group."
Sheila Fryer, business manager for pathology at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, says: "We're delighted Blood Bikes is launching in the Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin area and that our patients will be able to benefit from this.
"Rapid response for the transport of urgent blood and other specimens is vital and our partnership with Blood Bikes will help us ensure they are processed in a timely and effective manner.
"This important service will help us to deliver the best possible service to our patients and the communities we serve. We look forward to working in partnership with Blood Bikes and thank them for their support."
* Shropshire and Staffordshire Blood Bikes was being launched at RAF Cosford today by four-times World Superbikes champion Carl Fogarty and ex-British champion James Witham.
