Who are Norfolk Blood Bikes?
We are a charitable organisation made up of over one hundred passionate and committed volunteers who give up their free time to make sure our hospitals and Air Ambulance have the products, materials and information they need to save lives.
A network of care
Norfolk is the 4th largest county in England with an increasing population of over 930, 000 people, and yet has no motorways. It has 3 Primary Hospitals; The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn, The Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital and the James Paget University Hospital in Great Yarmouth, with additional smaller in-patient facilities operated by the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust.
These hospitals all form part of the Eastern Pathology Alliance (EPA) which is a managed pathology network providing Clinical Biochemistry, Immunology, Haematology, Blood Transfusion, Andrology and Microbiology services to primary and secondary care providers across Norfolk and Waveney, created in 2014 and was one of the first pathology networks in the UK.
Where Norfolk Blood Bikes operate
Norfolk Blood Bikes operate within formal Service Level Agreements with all the EPA hospitals.
Our primary purpose is to transport urgent or emergency blood & blood products, between NHSBT and other EPA designated sites as part of the Alliance’s Blood Transfusion Service.
Norfolk Blood Bikes is registered with the UK Charity Commission and was formed, in 2011, to fulfil the need of an ‘out of hours’ transport service for blood, samples and any other items that need to be carried between these locations.
We operate every night 7pm to 7am and 9am to 5pm every weekend and Bank Holiday including all the Festive Period.
We currently work between the Primary Hospitals, 5 Community Hospitals and their supporting laboratories, transporting any items used for the medical or surgical treatment of patients.
This is all done at no cost to the National Health Service.
In addition we collect blood and blood products from the regional blood bank for East Anglia which is located at Addenbrookes Hospital, in Cambridge.
We are just one of many charitable organisations that provide a similar service around the United Kingdom and we are governed and overseen by the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes (NABB) who share our mission to provide reliable, free and high quality provision to NHS trusts throughout the UK.
Run entirely by local volunteers, Norfolk Blood Bikes has over 100 active members spread across the county.
These members are the 'lifeblood' of the Charity acting as fundraisers, controllers, leadership team or riding and driving, they all work as a team to provide a professional urgent transport service for the NHS.
We operate a fleet of 17 liveried motorcycles and 7 cars to help us transport blood, plasma, platelets, samples, vaccines, donor breast milk and any other urgently required medical items to the hospitals and Air Ambulance in Norfolk.
None of our members take any remuneration for their time and all the running costs are paid for by donations from the public.
It costs around £5000 per month to maintain this essential service.