This year we celebrated the milestone of giving blood transfusions to more than 500 patients since 2015. This is a great achievement which wouldn’t be possible without the help of Blood Bikes Cumbria and Northumbria Blood Bikes.
Both blood bike groups are charities which provide daily out of hours and weekend delivery of two units of red blood cells and two units of fresh frozen plasma to our bases at Langwathby and Teesside.
Those who deliver our vital blood products are unpaid volunteers who selflessly give up their time to make a positive difference in other people’s lives.
We’re very thankful to have their support, so we’re shining a spotlight on the incredible work they do.
Blood delivery for GNAAS
On a daily basis, Northumbria Blood Bikes will collect their vehicle from Blucher Ambulance Station and travel to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle to pick up the blood products. They travel to meet Blood Bikes Cumbria at Hexham General Hospital and provide them with the blood products that need to be delivered to our Langwathby base and receive back the products that were at Langwathby the previous day.
While Blood Bikes Cumbria deliver the new box of blood products to Langwathby, Northumbria Blood Bikes return to the RVI to provide any unused blood products from Langwathby, which are then used during surgery and other procedures in the hospital.
They collect the new blood products for our Teesside base and drop them off at our HQ as well as collecting the previous day’s products and return them to the RVI.
Mileage for GNAAS
Blood Bikes Cumbria travel approximately 157 miles per day, 4,775 miles per month and 57,305 miles per year.
Northumbria Blood Bikes travel approximately 130 miles a day, 3,954 miles per month and 47,450 miles per year for GNAAS.
Yearly runs
From June 2021 to May 2022, Blood Bikes Cumbria carried out 1,988 runs overall, and transferred samples and other products from 17 locations and delivered to 13 locations. They also played a part in the transfer of vaccines for the Northern Schools vaccination programme.
Last year they had a total of 2,134 runs and travelled 165,222 miles.
Northumbria Blood Bikes completed 13,361 runs between June 2021 and 31 May 2022.
Last year they had a total of 13,219 runs, travelled 280,000 miles and delivered to over 114 different locations. The RVI was their busiest location with over 4,000 collections and 3,700 deliveries.
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