This article reads like a press release or a news article and may be largely based on routine coverage .(January 2019) |
Founded | April 1990 [1] |
---|---|
Type | Registered charity |
Registration no. | 1001067 |
Location | |
Area served | Somerset, Bristol, Bath, West Wiltshire, South Gloucestershire |
Services | NHS motorcycle courier |
Revenue | £260,627 (year ending 31 March 2020) [1] |
Volunteers | 148 (January 2019) |
Website | freewheelers |
Freewheelers Emergency Voluntary Service (EVS) is a blood bike charity based in South West England. Founded in Weston-super-Mare in 1990, [1] [2] it is funded by public donations and staffed by unpaid volunteers.
Freewheelers EVS are a founding member of the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes (NABB), which acts as an umbrella charity for all blood bike charities. [3] It inspired the foundation of a new charity, White Knights EVS in West Yorkshire. [4] Neighbouring charities include Severn Freewheelers, [5] SERV, and Yeovil Freewheelers, which was founded in 1978. [6]
The charity operates in Somerset, Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and western parts of Wiltshire. [7] It is used by NHS in the area, including major hospitals such as Bristol Royal Infirmary, Southmead, Weston General, the RUH in Bath, and Musgrove Park in Taunton. Minor injuries units, GP surgeries, care homes, hospices and patients' home addresses make up the other destinations often visited.
Freewheelers operates from 19:00 to 07:00 during the week and 24 hours at weekends and public holidays. On any given shift there is one coordinator and five riders on duty. The riders are spread across the area of operation. In general one is in the vicinity of Bath, one in the vicinity of Bristol and one in the vicinity of Taunton. The fourth rider can be used anywhere across the whole area to assist when particularly busy or if one of the riders is in need of a break. A fifth rider exchanges transfusion blood with the Wiltshire Air Ambulance and Great Western Air Ambulance air bases. All the riders hold an advanced motorcycling qualification, [8] such as an IAM RoadSmart or RoSPA test pass. There is also a requirement to retake this assessment every three years to maintain a high standard of riding. This partly due to insurance purposes but also tied into the aim of the charity to encourage safe riding and promote a positive image of motorcycling.
The charity's volunteers transport blood for transfusion, tissue samples for pathological or microbiological analysis, drugs, patient notes, medical images and medical devices. [7] It has also carried more unusual items such as antivenom and artificial limbs. [2] Since 2010, Freewheelers has also been transporting human breast milk to and from the breast milk bank at Southmead Hospital. [9] [10]
As of 2015 [update] , EVS participated in a daily delivery of type O negative blood to Wiltshire Air Ambulance and Great Western Air Ambulance, with the latter also taking delivery of fresh frozen plasma. [11] [12] [13] [14]
If jobs require transport beyond the Freewheelers EVS area of operation, there is coordination with neighbouring blood bike charities to relay items and pass them on at pre-arranged handover locations. This goes for shipments leaving the area, such consignments of breast milk, or inbound items destined for the charity's area. Samples often require transport to the NHS Blood and Transplant centre at Filton. [15] [16] The site also houses the International Blood Group Reference Laboratory (IBGRL), which performs rare blood identification. [17]
Freewheelers owns and operates a fleet of blood bike liveried Yamaha FJR1300, BMW R1200RT-P and BMW F800GT motorcycles fitted with blue lights and sirens. Previously ex-police motorcycles were used, such as the Honda ST Pan-European series.
The latest Yamaha FJR1300 motorcycles are the first to be purpose-built for Blood Bike duties through an arrangement between NABB and Yamaha [18] with equipment designed and fitted by Woodway Engineering. [19]
Freewheelers EVS is 100% funded by public donations. Money is raised through a variety of avenues with events highlighted on the website. [20] [ better source needed ] These events range from bucket collections at supermarkets to giving talks to local groups.
In 2010, the pupils of All Hallows Preparatory School near Shepton Mallet staged a number of fundraising events, including a sponsored bicycle ride from John o' Groats to Land's End by two parents, [21] to buy a new BMW R1200RT motorcycle, which was presented to Freewheelers on 1 July 2010. [22] One of the pupils won a competition to name the new bike "The Flying Crane"—the school's logo is a Crane.
On 2 June 2008, Freewheelers EVS was awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, [23] [24] the highest award that can be given to a voluntary organisation in the United Kingdom and equivalent to an MBE. [25]
In July 2008, Freewheelers EVS was awarded the Chair's Community Award of 2008/09 by the Chair of Bath and North East Somerset Council, Councillor David Bellotti at the Guildhall in Bath. [26]
In March 2016, Freewheelers EVS won the "Voluntary and Community Sector Team of the Year" category in the Bristol Post Health and Care Awards. [27]
In The People's Projects awards 2017, West Country East, Freewheelers EVS was voted one of the winners and awarded £30,000 of lottery funds to purchase two new FJR1300 motorcycles. [28]
Avon was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in the west of England that existed between 1974 and 1996. The county was named after the River Avon, which flows through the area. It was formed from the county boroughs of Bristol and Bath, together with parts of the administrative counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset.
A motorcycle club is a group of individuals whose primary interest and activities involve motorcycles. A motorcycle group can range as clubbed groups of different bikes or bikers who own same model of vehicle like the Harley Owners Group.
The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more than 17,200 volunteers and 3,400 staff. At the heart of their work is providing help to people in crisis, both in the UK and overseas. The Red Cross is committed to helping people without discrimination, regardless of their ethnic origin, nationality, political beliefs or religion. Queen Elizabeth II was the patron of the society until her death in 2022, and was replaced by her successor King Charles III, who previously served as president between 2003 and 2024.
The Yamaha FJR1300A and FJR1300AE/AS are sport touring motorcycles made by Yamaha Motor Company. Both models have a 1,298 cc inline-four engine. The AE/AS model has an electronically controlled clutch and gear shifting system called YCC-S. The clutch and transmissions of the AE/AS models are identical to that of the standard FJR model.
Weston General Hospital is an NHS district general hospital in the town of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England, operated by University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust. As of June 2019, the hospital had 261 beds and around 1,800 clinical and non-clinical staff. It has a part-time Accident & Emergency department, an intensive care unit, an oncology and haematology day unit, and a day case unit. The hospital also has a 12-bed private unit, The Waterside Suite, wholly owned by the hospital trust, with profits being re-invested into the main hospital.
The Royal United Hospital (RUH) is a major acute-care hospital in the Weston suburb of Bath, England, which lies approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of the city centre. The hospital has 565 beds and occupies a 52 acres (21 ha) site. It is the area's major accident and emergency hospital, with a helicopter landing point on the adjacent Lansdown Cricket Club field. The hospital is operated by the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust.
The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) is the organisation responsible for providing ambulance services for the National Health Service (NHS) across South West England. It serves the council areas of Bath and North East Somerset, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Plymouth, Isles of Scilly, Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, Torbay and Wiltshire.
The Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust (GWAS) was a National Health Service (NHS) trust which provided emergency and non-emergency patient transport services to Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire, in South West England. It was formed on 1 April 2006 by the merger of the Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire ambulance services. The ambulance service was acquired by neighbouring Foundation Trust South Western Ambulance Service (SWASFT) on 1 February 2013.
Saltford is a large English village and civil parish in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, Somerset. It lies between the cities of Bristol and Bath, and adjoins Keynsham on the same route. Saltford Manor House claims to be the oldest continuously occupied dwelling in England.
Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom provide emergency care to people with acute illness or injury and are predominantly provided free at the point of use by the four National Health Services (NHS) of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Emergency care including ambulance and emergency department treatment is only free to UK residents and a charge may be made to those not entitled to free NHS care.
A motorcycle ambulance is a type of emergency response vehicle which carries either a solo paramedic, emergency medical technician, or first responder to a patient; or may also be used with a trailer or sidecar for transporting patients. Because of its small size and agile performance, a motorcycle ambulance is able to respond to a medical emergency much faster than a car or conventional ambulance vehicle in heavy traffic, which can increase survival rates for critically ill patients, especially those in cardiac arrest.
The fire services in the United Kingdom use motorcycles in various roles. A number of fire and rescue services around the UK use fire motorcycles to deliver road safety messages. From 2005, Merseyside fire service deployed a motorcycle in an automatic alarm response role, and from 2007 they have used two quad-bikes for public information campaigns. In 2010, Merseyside became the first fire service in the UK to use fire motorcycles as an actual fire appliance, to be used to fight small fires. Having been deployed in a six-month trial, if found successful they could be deployed to other services nationally.
Severn Freewheelers Emergency Voluntary Service is a blood bike charity based in the Severn Valley in western England. Founded in 2007, it provides a free motorcycle courier service to hospitals in the region, operating a fleet of emergency-equipped motorcycles which are ridden and co-ordinated by volunteers. Severn Freewheelers is a founder-member of the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes (NABB) and co-operates with similar organisations in the area including Freewheelers EVS, SERV and Midland Freewheelers.
Service by Emergency Rider Volunteers / Service by Emergency Response Volunteers, or SERV, is the name used by a number of blood bike charities based in England, whose volunteers provide a motorcycle courier service, free of charge, to the National Health Service and the air ambulance charities. The original SERV group was established in 1981.
A blood bike is a specialist motorcycle modified for use as a courier vehicle for the prompt transportation of urgent and emergency medical items; primarily including blood, and also including X-rays, tissue samples, surgical tools, human milk, spinal fluids, drugs, and documentation; between hospitals and other healthcare facilities.
Healthcare in Somerset, England was the responsibility of three clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) until July 2022. These covered the ceremonial county of Somerset, which comprises the areas governed by the three unitary authorities of Somerset, North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset.
The Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC) is a charity air ambulance service in South West England. It operates for the relief of sickness and injury, with a specialist paramedic in critical care and a critical care doctor, providing response by helicopter or car between the hours of 7:00 am and 1:00 am, 365 days a year. The service covers Bristol, North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire, and surrounding areas.
Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes is a blood bike charity which operates in Yorkshire, England.
Blood Bikes Wales is a blood bike charity based in Wales. Founded in 2011, it provides a free motorcycle courier service to NHS Wales hospitals across the country, operating a fleet of motorcycles which are ridden and co-ordinated by volunteers. Blood Bikes Wales is a member of the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes (NABB) and co-operates with similar organisations in England.
Greater Manchester Blood Bikes – a UK charity providing courier services for the transportation of urgent and emergency medical items such as blood, human milk, platelets, samples, vaccines, operating in Greater Manchester.
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