North West blood courier service given boost

This article was published on: 01/30/17

A voluntary courier service that helps deliver vital medical supplies out of hours has been given an injection of £25,000. North West Blood Bikes operates throughout Lancashire from Kendal and Windermere down to the Ormskirk/ Skelmersdale region, from the Fylde coast to Burnley, Nelson and Colne.

Two new bikes

Thanks to a grant from a community fund, the group has been able to purchase two more bikes to support its vital work. The group boasts a fleet of 10 bikes (2 of which were in need or replacing with the newly purchased bikes). Drivers operate the 10 vehicles voluntarily between 6:30pm and 2am on weekdays and prove a 24 hour service at the weekend.

One of the service’s volunteers, Mr Ian German, spoke to the local press about the great benefits the funding will provide, saying; “The award is the highest sum we’ve ever won”

“The funding means we can continue to transport lifesaving medical supplies to hospitals in our region and continue to expand our service”.

Reducing the stress

You don’t need to look very far to find articles at the moment about overstretched NHS services and incidents of medical negligence down to employees being overworked, under staffed and not financially supported. This leaves the NHS in a precarious position where services like the blood bikes go some way to reducing that burden in some way.

With the health service suffering from cuts, any voluntary service is greatly appreciated. The blood bike scheme operates nationally via regional cells (27 in total) utilising 2,870 volunteers who deal with around 10,000 requests per region per year.

Scott Rees & Co would like to send our congratulations to the blood bike service on their funding and hope they continue to grow, providing excellent work in assistance of hospitals across the county.

If you have any issues with your health service and require legal representation following an incident of medical negligence then you can get in touch with our clinical negligence department by calling 01695 722 222 or by getting in touch via our claim page. We have a dedicated department for medical claims who can help you if you have suffered injury.

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